


The Butterfly and her Brother

by Anthemyst



Series: Generations Past and Future [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Butterfly Mama Agreste, F/M, Gabriel Agreste is NOT Hawkmoth, Origin Story, Peacock Gabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-05-29 01:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 43,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6352870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anthemyst/pseuds/Anthemyst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long before she was the wife of Gabriel Agreste, Adele Dumas was a young student with drive, a temper that sometimes got away from her, a brother she trusted with her life-and a secret identity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How it Ended

“There are too many people Nooroo, I need to get closer,” Adele whispered.

“It’s too dangerous! Without Paon’s invisibility-“

“Gabriel isn’t here, and there’s no point in wishing otherwise.” Adele sighed. “I can do it alone, I just need to find one henchman who’s having second thoughts, just one! Can you scout around for a closer hiding place?”

“All right…okay, about fifty feet to the left there’s a pile of empty crates, just wait until the patrol is around the corner-now! Go now!”

Keeping low, Adele dashed to her left, spotted the crates, and silently leapt into one without being spotted. “Great work, this is perfect. All right, we only have minutes to stop the ritual…Nooroo, wings up!” Transforming inside a cramped crate wasn’t exactly ideal, but under the circumstances Adele wasn’t complaining. She took a deep breath and began to scan the emotions of the cultists around her.

Determination. Blind faith. A hunger for power. Eager anticipation, impatience, and…there, finally. Fear, and regret. Adele had never manipulated such negative emotions before, and it made her skin crawl to do so now, but she had never been more desperate. She sent out her butterfly and waited for it to land on the cultist’s medallion.

“Hello, Anthony,” Adele whispered, “I am Madame Butterfly.” It had been so long, so long, since she’d spoken those words, she felt a rush at them, despite the danger. About seventy feet from the crate, and only twenty feet from the circle of runes, a young man-terribly young, younger than Adele had been when she’d first started all this- looked up.

“Madame Butterfly? The…the leader warned us about you. He said-“

“Ah, but I am not what you fear now, am I? I can sense it in you, you know this to be wrong, you know you have to stop it or you’ll never get out alive, Anthony. And I am the only one who can help you now.”

“It’s too late, the ritual-“

“Can still be stopped, I promise. I can give you the power to stop it right now. Just accept it.” Adele was twisting and amplifying the boy’s fear as much as she could, her headaches were back but she powered through them, she hated this, it was everything Nooroo’s power shouldn’t be used for, and yet, if she didn’t succeed, oh God-

“All right! Yes, give me that power, please; I’ll do anything, just make it stop!” Instantly, the pain in Adele’s head abated. She sighed in relief.

“Just focus on the circle of runes. You see the large stone in the center?”

“Yes.”

“Blow it up. Shatter it into a million pieces. You don’t have to move an inch closer to it, I promise, just look at it and concentrate.” Adele waited, holding her breath. A second later, a shout of alarm-it seemed someone had finally noticed the young cultist standing near the runes, talking to himself and staring intently at the center. But it was too late; the next thing Adele heard was a loud explosion, so powerful it shook her crate. She exhaled, practically laughing with relief at the sounds of chaos and rage. It was over! Now all she had to do was get out without being seen, and-

A sinister face peered down at Adele, grinning coldly.

“Bonjour, Madame.”

 

* * *

 

At least Adele had punched the smug grin off her discoverer’s face, leaping out of her crate fist-first, before she’d been captured. That was some comfort. She’d gotten a lot of good hits in, actually, but once her target accomplished their goal she only had five minutes until her transformation wore off, and while Madame Butterfly was able to fight off twenty cultists, Adele Agreste could handle two, tops. There simply hadn’t been enough time to escape.

About five cultists-which really was overkill, Adele thought-held her down while three more tied her tightly to a chair. The man who’d found her looked her in the eye. “Do you have any idea what you’ve cost me?”

Adele cocked an eyebrow. “The world, I hope. Wasn’t that the plan? Tear open the layers of reality that separate us from the Kwami, enslave as many as you could get your hands on, and conquer the world with an army of super soldiers?”

“Well, why not? You have a Kwami slave, why shouldn’t I?”

Adele bristled. “Nooroo is not a slave! We’re partners, I would never use him against his will, or for anything he didn’t want to do! It might be a shock to you, but he wasn’t exactly happy to learn you planned to invade his home reality and enslave his people.”

“Ah yes, Nooroo. Where is the little sprite? I think the two of us should start to get acquainted, since he will soon be mine to command. I won’t pretend that today hasn’t been anything less than an utter disappointment, but gaining the Butterfly Miraculous is, as consolation prizes go, not bad. Conquering the world will be significantly harder, of course, but I think I can make it work.”

“If you think I’ll give this Miraculous to you-“

“Madame, I detest killing, or any kind of waste, but if you will not surrender that Miraculous willingly, I will do whatever it takes to claim it. I have spent my whole life studying the Kwami, and their role in our world’s history, and I am quite certain your death would be quite sufficient to sever your claim to yours. I will give you ten minutes to decide-and in the meantime, my men will give this room a very wide berth, just in case you decide to try manipulating any of them again.” He motioned towards the door, and the cultists quickly exited. “Decide wisely, Madame.” He slammed the heavy door, locking it behind him.

Adele looked around. “Nooroo, can you untie me?” Nooroo emerged from her coat pocket, and got to work on the ropes. A minute later, she was free. “Thanks. I don’t suppose you could unlock the door next?” Nooroo flew over to the door, but stopped short and shook his head sadly.

“There’s some kind of magic barrier, I can’t get near it.”

“And you don’t have enough energy to stand another transformation? Oh well, there’s got to be something in here we can use.” Adele looked around the room, but aside from the chair there was nothing. Adele carried it over to a spot underneath a small window near the ceiling, and peered out. “We’re about ten stories up-I couldn’t survive that fall untransformed even if I could fit through this window, which I doubt. We’re right over that river they needed for the ritual. There are a few cultists below us, but they’re not looking up.”

“Adele, you have to give me up willingly, I can’t let you die.”

“What? No! Nooroo, we can’t let that man get his hands on you, you heard him. If he can control you, he’ll do untold damage. My life isn’t more important than that.”

“But if he kills you, he’ll have me anyway. At least you’ll live.”

“There’s got to be another way. What if I hid the Miraculous? Or threw it out the window?”

“He would find it eventually, Adele. If he has magic powerful enough to contain a Kwami, he can certainly track one.”

Adele frowned. “What if…” she sighed deeply, and looked at Nooroo, “What if there wasn’t a Kwami to track?”

“What do you mean?”

“If I reject the Miraculous, _before_ he returns, you’ll become dormant, right? And if I throw it into the river, would he be able to track it then?” Nooroo was silent. “I’m right, aren’t I? That’s the only way to keep you out of his hands.”

“Oh, Adele.” Nooroo flew over to Adele and hugged her cheek. “I don’t want to leave you. You’re the bravest, most selfless human friend I’ve ever had.”

“Brave? I’m terrified, Nooroo. I haven’t had to do anything on my own since I met you, and I don’t know if I can-and Gabriel, I’ll never see him again, and Adrien, oh God, Adrien, what have I done to him?” Adele tried to wipe away her tears, but they were flowing freely now. “Nooroo, if Gabriel finds you-tell him I’m sorry we fought, that I should have listened to him, that I never should have come to Tibet alone, and Adrien…” she trailed off. “Tell Adrien how much I love him. How much I did to protect him.”

Nooroo smiled sadly. “I promise, Adele.”

“Goodbye, Nooroo.” Bracing herself, Adele ripped the brooch off her shirt. Nooroo vanished, and the camouflaged brooch transformed back into the iconic Butterfly Miraculous. Adele climbed up to the window, and threw the brooch as hard as she could towards the river. It was too small to see by the time it landed, but Adele was sure her aim had been true.

Sighing, Adele sat down and waited.


	2. How it Begins

“Miss?”

Adele was preoccupied, and didn’t notice the old man standing outside her apartment complex. All her life she’d had a habit of taking on too much at once; currently she was trying to earn a four-year degree in two years, and a mountain of homework was waiting for her at home.

“Miss Adele?”

That got her attention.

“Who-how did you-wait. You’re the man I helped this morning, aren’t you? You dropped your papers all over the subway.”

The man smiled. “Yes, that’s right.”

“How do you know my name?”

The man scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I’ve been following you all day, actually. My name is Mr. Fu. I’m afraid our earlier meeting was a bit of a deception on my part. But I have something for you, if you want it, and I think you will. If it’s not too much trouble, could we continue this conversation inside?”

Adele hesitated. “You’ll forgive me if I’m not exactly willing to invite you up,” she said. Mr. Fu nodded.

“Of course. There’s a café down the block; it’s public, but I don’t think we’ll be overheard.”

 

* * *

 

One cappuccino and one green tea later, the two were seated across from each other in a small, semi-private booth.

“So?” Adele asked. “What is it that you have for me?”

Wordlessly, Mr. Fu reached into his bag and pulled out a small black box. He slid it over to Adele. “Open this at home, when you’re certain you’re alone.”

“What is this?”

“Power. Responsibility. An entirely new kind of life. I think you’re worthy of it.” Mr. Fu sighed. “It is a life I have lived for over sixteen decades”-at this Adele raised an eyebrow skeptically, but said nothing-“and for the past several, one I have lived alone. It is time to start training my replacements, and I think it would be wise to start with you.”

Adele frowned, trying to decide which question to ask first. “What kind of power?” Mr. Fu laughed.

“Oh, Nooroo can explain all that far better than I can, ask him when you get home.”

“Uh huh. And this new life?”

“Adventure, heroism, magic.” Now Adele was certain the man was mad, but she wasn’t really sure how to bring it up without being rude.

“And the responsibility, then?” she asked.

“Oh, I think we’ll start with something small at first. How does being a guardian of Paris sound? Once we’ve recruited a few more heroes, we can think more globally, although to be perfectly honest saving the world is the kind of thing that really only comes up once or twice a century.”

“So… if my math is correct, it’s something you’ve done two or three times now?”

Mr. Fu laughed. “My abilities are entirely defensive actually, but yes, I’ve helped the world once or twice.”

“You know, Paris really could have used a guardian about sixty years ago. What were you doing then?”

Mr. Fu’s face darkened. “There are limits to our powers, it’s true. And if you find yours, I pray they don’t weigh as heavily on your soul as mine do.”

Adele had been planning another flippant response, but it died in her throat. She swallowed. “Fair enough. So, what now?”

“If you accept, take the box home and open it. If not, we shall part ways. I will continue my search, and not bother you again.” He paused. “I do hope you accept. You have a very…caring energy. It’s not as common an aura as you might think.”

Adele had never once been called “caring” in her short life, but she accepted the compliment as gracefully as she could, with a solemn nod. “All right, then, I accept.” She reached across the table and grabbed the box. Mr. Fu smiled. “After I take this home, what then?”

“I’d recommend getting a pager, but in the meantime this is my number.” Mr. Fu slid over a small slip of paper. “Call me when you’re done interrogating Nooroo.” Before Adele could ask any more questions, he’d gotten up and calmly walked out the café door. Adele sighed, put the box in her purse, and headed home.

The walk back seemed to take forever, but when Adele looked back on this day in the future she never remembered a single detail of it. In her memory it was barely a moment between leaving the café, and looking at the mysterious box sitting in front of her on her apartment’s small coffee table. She sighed. “This is probably going to be nothing, but here goes,” she muttered as she opened the box.

Adele caught the briefest glimpse of a purple butterfly before a flash of light blinded her. She looked back at the box, blinking, but where the butterfly had been, a far more subtle silver pin now lay in its place. She squinted, blinking.

“Hello! I’m Nooroo!”

 

* * *

 

Adele was pretty good at stifling screams, thanks to growing up with a prank-inclined older brother. She’d merely gasped at the small, purple sprite floating in the air before her, as it cheerfully started to explain…well, everything. Adele was grateful, because it seemed like every question answered led to three more. She was actually starting to enjoy interrogating this friendly creature, and he seemed to be enjoying it, too.

About twenty minutes in, Adele was actually starting to feel settled with this strange creature around. She had put on the brooch, and was finishing off the first cup of a pot of coffee. Nooroo had interrupted her questions long enough to find out exactly what she had to eat in the apartment, and was currently enjoying a bowl of strawberries, each one easily as big as he was. Adele wasn’t sure how the physics of that worked exactly, and she intended to find out, but it was currently low on her endless list of questions.

“A kwami…and that’s a type of fairy?”

“Correct! Well, close enough anyway. We’re spirits, and we have magic, and we help the people who hold our Miraculouses.”

“And…how long have you been here?”

“Paris?”

“No, no, in our world, on Earth. Have you always been here?”

Nooroo laughed. “Oh no, we have our own world. We’re just visiting.”

“And…how long have you been visiting?” Nooroo frowned.

“It’s hard to say; your people only began recording history a few thousand years ago, so measuring time before that gets a little fuzzy.”

“Goodness. Um. I…probably have a lot more questions about that, actually, but do you mind if I switch back over to the whole ‘magic powers’ thing for a minute?”

“Of course! I haven’t had a human in ever so long, and I do love this part.” Nooroo smiled brightly up at Adele, who was briefly stunned trying to imagine what length of time a creature like Nooroo would call ‘ever so long’. “Adele?”

“Sorry. Right.” Adele paused again. She was pretty sure she had the logistics of her new powers down, but a few philosophical questions had occurred to her. “Your power is emotions, you said, and you’ll give me the power to…manipulate them?”

“That’s right.”

“But that’s terrible! What possible use could emotional manipulation be to a superhero?” Nooroo looked at Adele seriously.

“Adele, you humans are almost never feeling only one thing. You are filled with many emotions, and desires, and impulses, often conflicting. And those affect your behavior. With my power, you can help people make the right decisions."

“But what about free will?”

“Do you think a person should have free will to rob a bank, or kidnap a child?”

“Well…no, I guess not? But surely not every situation will be that black and white?”

“The Guardian thinks you’re wise enough to tell when to use this power, and when to abstain. Have faith in yourself.”

“The Guar-you mean Mr. Fu? Just because I helped him pick up his papers in the subway? Forgive me, but his screening process seems a just a little bit lacking to me.” Nooroo waved a small hand dismissively.

“Oh, that wasn’t the screening process. Well, it was part of it, but mostly he just does that to get close enough to thoroughly read a person’s energy. I don’t exactly understand all of it myself, it’s not my area of power, but with Wayzz’s guidance he hasn’t been wrong yet. Now Wayzz, if you ask me he’s made two or three questionable calls overall, but nothing serious since the Renaissance, so I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. The odds of him being wrong again in your lifetime are reasonably low.”

Adele blinked. “Well…okay, then.”

“You’ve spent a lot more time asking questions than any of my previous humans, you know. Don’t you want to try my power out for yourself?”

“Honestly? It’s a little scary…you’re sure I’ll be able to go back to normal if I want?”

“Oh yes, that part is totally instinctive,” Nooroo assured her.

“If you say so. Okay.” Adele took a deep breath. “Nooroo, wings up!” Nooroo flew, impossibly fast, into her brooch. Immediately, Adele felt an intense tingling power wash over her skin. She bit back a scream as she instinctively pushed her arms out, trying to shake the sensation. Sparks of light began to coat her fingertips, and travel up her arm, closer and closer, it was on her neck, her face, and-

Adele breathed a sigh of relief. She could still feel an immense power, but it was internal now, not crawling all over her. She rushed to the nearest mirror. “Wow. This is…wow.” It wasn’t exactly the superhero costume she would have designed for herself from scratch, but it looked _good_. Tight, purple, a butterfly-shaped mask over her eyes, it should have looked ridiculous but somehow it created an overwhelming impression of power and confidence. Gazing in the mirror, Adele suddenly trusted herself more than she ever had before in her life. “Nooroo?”

Adele hadn’t forgotten Nooroo’s warning that he wouldn’t be able to help her while she was transformed, but somehow she hadn’t believed he’d be _totally_ gone. He was, though; Adele couldn’t sense him at all. “All right, let’s try out this superpower.” Adele closed her eyes, and willed herself to start sensing emotions. Immediately, she staggered back and then sat down, hard, on her apartment floor. She squeezed her eyes shut as she instinctively let go of her power. “Oww…okay, lesson learned, don’t turn that all the way on all at once.” For the brief instant that her power had been activated, it was as though every person in Paris was in Adele’s head at once. She felt dizzy, and as though she’d been blinded by looking directly at the sun. She took a few shaky breaths. “Okay, attempt number two.” Adele focused again, and this time concentrated on limiting her sense to her immediate surroundings at first, and expanding slowly. Nothing yet…nothing…there. Adele’s upstairs neighbor. She was tired, annoyed at the noisy kids across the hall, worried about her job, and amused at the commercial currently on TV. Adele let go of her power again but the sensation, of feeling what her neighbor felt, lingered.

“Okay, the first power seems to be working, now where’s that-” Before Adele could even finish the thought, the cane that Nooroo had described appeared in her hand. “Huh. Ask and ye shall receive, I guess.” Adele tried twirling the cane around experimentally, and before she knew it, the cane was spinning around too fast to see, with almost no effort on her part required whatsoever. She stared, hypnotized, for a minute before pulling her hand back suddenly and letting the cane clatter to the floor. How on Earth had she done that? Nooroo had told her that the transformation came with combat instincts, but Adele hadn’t expected it to be so effortless.

Adele picked up the cane again, brandishing it experimentally like a sword. This, too, felt natural, as though Adele could have blocked anything with it without a thought. She supposed testing this out at the batting cages was out of the question, or going to the gym to see how much she could bench-press, but maybe she could set some tests up at her parents’ country house while it was empty.

Without an opponent to face off against, the only thing left to test was her major, one-use-and-you’re-done power, to choose another person as a champion and bestow them with some kind of power they desired. But…Adele didn’t feel quite ready to test something like that out just yet, especially just for the sake of testing it and not for the Greater Good. She closed her eyes and concentrated again. When she opened them, Nooroo was floating in front of her face, beaming. “So? How did you like it?”

Adele grinned back at the fairy. “It was definitely something I could get used to.”


	3. How They Met

“Adele? I don’t…I don’t understand the point of what you’re doing.” Nooroo dodged as Adele threw yet another blouse aside.

“It’s my first day! At a job in the fashion industry, Nooroo, I have to look good…or at the very least, coordinated.” She frowned at her reflection, then at Nooroo’s. “You know, this sort of thing was a lot easier back before I had to plan all my outfits around this brooch.”

“It’s camouflaged, Adele, the point is to _not_ draw attention to it.”

“Yeah, yeah, something tells me the people at this place are going to notice every little thing no matter what. What about this one?” Adele held up a sleeveless blue top.

“Where am I supposed to hide in that?”

“Oh, just hide in my hair; I have enough to worry about without limiting myself to only outfits with pockets.” Adele turned back to the mirror, frowning. “This is good, right? I guess I’d better decide soon, I’m running out of time. I can’t believe I didn’t pick everything last night, now I’m running behind.”

“Adele, you have an hour and a half to walk ten blocks. You’ll be fine. You’re being ridiculous.”

“Nooroo, I have never been late for a single thing in my entire life, and I’m not starting today.” Nooroo frowned.

“Once you start doing missions for the Guardian, you’re going to have to get used to the idea of being late to things, or making excuses and leaving early, or missing classes-”

“Ha! You’ll see, you haven’t worked with someone like me before. There’s nothing I can’t plan around.” Adele threw the blue shirt on, then transferred her brooch to it and nodded decisively. “Now…skirt or pants?” she asked Nooroo. Nooroo sighed.

 

* * *

  

“You’re wearing _that_?”

Adele’s eyes widened, and then narrowed in anger. Her brother laughed. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’m sure you planned the whole outfit out a week in advance, it looks great.” In response, Adele punched his shoulder.

“How is it that nobody’s murdered you yet, Jonathan?” she asked. He grinned.

“Just my natural charm, I guess. Okay, you have ten blocks to ask all your last minute questions, so fire away.”

“I think I’ve gotten everything useful I can out of you already, actually. Besides, you haven’t worked there for what, three years?”

“Mmm, I do the occasional favor for a friend, but I haven’t been on the official payroll for a while, no. I’ve still got my finger on the pulse of workplace politics, though.”

“Yeah, I bet you do. I think I’ll just keep my head down, and-” Adele was interrupted by her brother snorting loudly.

“Of course you will. And when that plan fails in a week, call me and I’ll help you out.”

 

* * *

 

“And this is where we hang out when there isn’t any active modeling going on,” Marie said, gesturing to the opening of a small room with a couch and a few chairs, which were currently covered in backpacks, coats and purses. Currently two young women, older than Adele but not by much, were occupying the space, completely unfazed by Marie’s interruption. “They’re pretty good about telling us when we do and don’t need to be here,” Marie continued, “but sometimes we have to wait while they change the sets or something. And sometimes you’ll find Claire or Anna studying long after they’ve been dismissed, so feel free to join them if you can’t find a quiet place at home. Well, I think that’s everything, or at least everything you need to worry about. You’re only coming in a few times a week, right?”

Adele nodded. “Yes, I’m a full-time student.”

“A lot of the other girls are as well, I’m sure you’ll fit right in. Anna, Elise, come meet the new girl!” One of the girls, a redhead with light freckles, hurried over immediately; the other, a tall girl with giant glasses, whose hair was pulled up into a stylish afro puff, held up a finger and continued to read her textbook.

“Just gotta finish this chapter, one sec,” she said. The first girl rolled her eyes in response.

“I’m Elise, that’s Anna,” she said, grabbing Adele’s hand and shaking it. “You’re Jonathan’s little sister, right? He was before our time, but Marie worked with him, and he’s always stopping by to hang out-”

“By which Elise means, flirt with the designers,” Anna said, interrupting without lifting her gaze from her book.

“Well…yes, but sometimes he’s also good for making a food run when we’re stuck waiting in some crazy costumes and not allowed to leave the building. Don’t worry, being Jonathan’s sister is a net positive.”

“Oh…great, thanks.” Adele wasn’t actually used to having her brother’s reputation precede her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it but for now she’d take any advantage she could.

“And…done,” Anna announced, closing her book. She walked over to Adele and offered her hand, shaking it much more warmly than Adele had expected. “Sorry, I don’t like to stop studying once I’m in the zone. I’m a med student, and it’s pretty brutal sometimes. What are you studying?”

“Oh, I’m a freshman, still trying to decide,” Adele said. Before she could elaborate, a man with a clipboard stuck his head in the room.

“Anna, Elise, new girl, you’re up in fifteen, Claire’s already in there.” He disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. Marie looked at Anna and Elise.

“You two keep an eye on Adele for her first shoot, make sure she knows what’s going on and nobody gives her a hard time,” Marie said, heading out the door. “Lovely to meet you, Adele!”

“We’ve got it,” Anna assured her as Elise wrapped an arm around Adele’s shoulders and started to guide her to the dressing room.

“Everyone’s a little nervous their first time, but I’m sure you’ll be a natural. Anyway, this shoot isn’t even for anything really scary, like a magazine ad, it’s just for the big execs to see what the designers have come up with.”

Adele wasn’t sure what, exactly, she’d been expecting from the other models, but this aggressive, genuine friendliness and a complete disregard for anything resembling personal space was not it. It was…really nice, actually. Adele had been pretty social for most of high school, but for a while now she’d been throwing herself into studying, and she’d almost forgotten how nice it felt to actually be part of a group. And…Adele wasn’t sure if it was some latent side-effect of her newfound superpowers, or just how these girls were, but something about their friendliness was downright infectious. She smiled widely.

 

* * *

 

Three hours later they were back in the break room, Elise sprawled over most of the couch and seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was lying on at least two of Anna’s medical books. “Well, what’d you think?” she asked Adele. “Not too bad, right? You seemed a little stressed, but it definitely didn’t show during the actual pictures.”

“Not too bad,” Adele said, grinning. Her stress had actually been mostly due to the photographer, who had insisted on fixing her hair every five minutes and had come within a literal hair’s breadth of discovering Nooroo half a dozen times, but Adele couldn’t exactly say that. “I’m definitely going to remember not to skip breakfast next time, though,” she added. Anna laughed.

“We have snack bars stashed under the couch in case you forget next time,” she told Adele. “I’d offer you one now, but since we’re done for the day I’m guessing you’re heading out to get real food?” Before she could answer, Claire ran into the room and burst into tears. Adele pulled back as Anna and Elise both rushed over to her. “Claire, what happened?” Anna asked, closing the door to the room as Elise went straight for a hug.

Adele had introduced herself to Claire, a petite college student who looked more like Snow White than any other person Adele had ever met, very quickly before the shoot had started, but there hadn't really been an opportunity for the two girls to get to know each other, and she wasn't sure what she could do that Anna and Elise weren't already doing.

“Nothing, it's stupid,” Claire said, as Anna handed her a box of tissues from the end table. “It's just the new designer, Philip, he…he said…” Claire grabbed two more tissues from Anna and took a deep breath. “He said I’d gained weight from last week and I was going to make his designs look bad-”

“What?” all three girls exclaimed in indignation.

“-but I was _sick_ , I was recovering from that bug last week, I can’t stay at that weight! I tried to tell him, but-”

“Claire, sweetie, you don’t have to explain anything to us, or him,” Anna said, squeezing Claire’s shoulder. “Philip had no right to talk to you like that!” Elise nodded in agreement, still hugging Claire. “You should talk to Marie, she’ll straighten him out.” Claire’s eyes widened in horror.

“Oh no, I couldn’t, I feel embarrassed enough already,” she said.

Adele narrowed her eyes. “Where is he now?” she asked.

“Back at his desk, but Marie’s busy and I don’t want to make a fuss, really,” Claire insisted, but Adele was already poking her head out the door.

“The designers’ desks are down this way, right? And to the left?” Claire nodded, and Adele quickly stormed off.

“Adele,” Nooroo whispered as she rounded a corner, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“Standing up for a new friend,” she whispered back as she reached the area where the designers sat. Only one other person was in the room, a blonde young man in his mid-twenties, so Adele marched over to his desk. He didn’t look up from his sketching as she approached, even though her steps were practically echoing in the empty room, so she slammed a fist on his desk. “Hey!”

Finally, he looked up, raising a single eyebrow. “Yes?”

“You have some nerve talking to Claire like that, mister. First of all, sexist pigs like you are the reason girls in our society have eating disorders, it’s repugnant. Models aren’t pretty enough on their own for you, they have to be sick and underweight as well? Second, Claire is _perfect_ , she looks like a princess, and you should be so lucky to design the clothes that grace her frame. She would make a burlap sack look good, so if you think your designs don’t look good on her, you’ve basically admitted to being a talentless hack with no future in fashion design whatsoever. Are you a talentless hack?”

The young man leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingers together. “I am not,” he said cooly. He seemed completely unimpressed at Adele’s outburst, which only fueled her rage further.

“Well, we’ll see about that. Honestly, I can’t believe you! In the real world you’d never have the nerve to approach a girl like Claire, but because she works here you think she works for _you_ , you think you have some kind of power over her and it’s gone to your head, hasn’t it?” Behind her, Adele heard a gasp. She turned her head slightly and spotted Anna and Elise at the edge of the room, both of them wide-eyed in horror. Adele turned her attention back to the task at hand. “Well? Haven’t you got anything to say for yourself?”

“Just that I believe you have me confused with a Mr. Philip Rolland,” he replied calmly. Adele’s anger instantly turned to horror. All the color drained from her face instantly.

“What?”

“Philip? He’s one of my junior designers here, his desk is one row over. He left right before your rather dramatic arrival. I am Mr. Gabriel Agreste, and I am the senior designer for my department. I take it you are the new hire?” He calmly offered his hand, but Adele simply stared at it, still trying to process exactly what had just happened.

“I…I am _so_ sorry, I can’t believe-” Gabriel waved away the rest of her apology.

“If that's all, I really do need to be getting back to work.” He picked his pencil back up and directed his attention back to his drawings, as though Adele had ceased to exist. She looked frantically back at her new friends, who were gesturing wildly for her to _leave_. Adele rushed towards the exit as fast as she could.

“What did-” Elise started to whisper as Adele approached, but Adele didn’t slow down a bit, continuing to half-run for the building’s exit.

 

* * *

 

“You did _not_.” Adele nodded sadly and then buried her head in her arms on the table. Jonathan laughed. He’d shown up at her work around noon to take her out for a celebratory “Congrats on the New Job” lunch, but under the circumstances Adele did not at all feel like celebrating anything. He’d run into Adele in the lobby as she was fleeing the scene, so she’d dragged him out of the building as fast as possible and told him the gist of what had happened on their way to a nearby café. Adele barely touched her food, but Jonathan had finished his meal and was now taking advantage of Adele’s despondence to steal the occasional chip.

“I can’t believe I gave you a whole week; you didn’t even make it to lunch! And you didn’t even yell at the right guy!” He patted her head sympathetically, but continued to chuckle. Adele swatted his hand away. “Well, let’s assess the damage. Which senior designer was it?”

“Gabriel Agreste,” Adele mumbled.

“ _Gabe_? My best friend from college Gabe?” This statement was confusing enough to jolt Adele out of her misery, and she sat up.

“Best friend from college? What are you talking about? I’ve never heard you talk about him once. I thought James was your best friend from college. Or maybe Kenneth? Or…oh, I don’t know, Jonathan, I can’t keep your harem straight.”

“I talk about Gabe _all the time_ , Adele; he’s the designer that made my jacket. Remember? Gabe was doing costuming our senior year, I was playing Christian in that modern-day production of Cyrano, Gabe didn’t think anything in the theater department’s closet was stunning enough so he made something himself from scratch? I had to sneak it into my bag during strike because they said it was “funded by the department budget” and “the property of the university”?” Jonathan rolled his eyes heavily at these last two statements.

“You stole it?”

“Adele, the true crime would have been _not_ stealing it. It was made for me! Separating us would have been inhumane. Anyway, I’ve definitely told you about Gabe.”

Adele raised an eyebrow. “You’ve told me about that _jacket_ , sure, I’ll grant that. ‘Nobody’s ever looked as good as I do in this jacket, this jacket is a gift from God, me wearing this jacket is my gift to the world, finally I can be sure I was put on this Earth for a purpose’ and on and on and on. I’m sure I would never accidentally accuse your _jacket_ of being a sexist pig in front of all its coworkers. Gabriel Agreste, on the other hand, I have definitely never heard of before today, and I really could have used that heads-up!”

“Well, if I’d known you were going to go all Warrior Princess on him I’m sure I would have said something earlier. Poor Gabe, man, he doesn’t deserve that. I’m not surprised you thought he was a junior designer though, he’s younger than most of them. Total genius. Another two years and he’ll probably be running the whole company.” Jonathan stole another chip, and Adele waited for him to continue.

“Well?” She finally asked.  “What do I do about it?”

“Hmm? Oh, that the good news, actually, you don’t have to do anything. One, the other girls are all _really_ protective of Claire, so they probably loved it. Two, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gabe take anything personally if it doesn’t get in the way of his work. You already apologized, right?”

Adele frowned. “Well, of course, but-”

“Then trust me, I’m sure it’s had no impact on his opinion of you whatsoever.”

“Oh, you’re just saying that. I’m sure he’ll hate me forever,” Adele sighed.

  
As it turned out, both of them were dead wrong.


	4. Paris Gets a New Hero

Jumping from one roof to the next was starting to get easier, but only barely. Jumping off roofs to the ground, however...

“The rooftops are really the only option for patrols, Adele,” Nooroo had explained a few nights earlier. “You can’t just casually walk around on the street as Butterfly, it will attract too much attention and there will be too many obstacles around. From a rooftop, you can quickly cover ground and take direct paths towards your destination. You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

“Not at all,” Adele had assured her kwami. So much for that proclamation. As it turned out, there were heights and then there were _heights_. There was standing on top of the Eiffel tower, surrounded by a railing and with both feet safely planted on the floor. There was looking out a plane window at the ground below, sitting in a cushioned chair. There was riding a roller coaster, strapped in tight and moving too fast to think. And then…

And then there was standing at the edge of a building with no straps, no railing, no sturdy floor, just the prospect of jumping off and expecting to live.

“As Butterfly, you can survive a fall of over twenty stories,” Nooroo had assured her. “From five, you could be knocked off a roof mid-fight and still land on your feet. You’ll be amazed at how many new instincts and abilities you have in your superhero form. With your staff, you’ll jump on and off roofs like you’ve been doing it your whole life.”

Adele had been staring at the ground for thirteen minutes now, and as many times as she commanded her feet to step off the roof, they refused to obey.

Apparently her feet were smarter than the rest of her.

 

* * *

 

“Late night?” Elise asked, as Adele suppressed yet another yawn.

“Yeah, I was...studying.”

“I thought your summer classes ended last week? Didn’t you miss that shoot because of a final exam?”

“Oh...right, well, fall classes are starting up soon, I don’t want to be behind on the first day.” Elise laughed.

“Don’t you have enough on your plate without worrying about tomorrow’s troubles?”

Adele reached for a bottle of aspirin.“Elise, you have no idea.”

 

* * *

 

It had been three weeks since Adele had first met Nooroo, almost two since she’d started going on nightly patrols, and she still had yet to use her big one-time-only power.

She’d gotten the hang of extending and retracting her staff in order to launch herself up onto a roof, or catch herself mid-fall.

She’d stopped two muggings and a car theft using only her enhanced combat abilities.

She could control the radius of her empathic abilities entirely by instinct, and on a few occasions had even managed to fixate on single emotions and locate them within a radius of up to three city blocks, a radius which was steadily increasing.

She was even beginning to develop empathic abilities outside of her Butterfly transformation. They were much weaker, and more passive and instinctive, and she still got killer headaches when she tried controlling it, but she was assured those would go away in time.

She’d come very far in a few weeks, Nooroo kept insisting, and yet Adele knew she’d never truly feel like Butterfly until she used every ability this new form gave her. And yet...and yet, Adele couldn’t shake the feeling that using the Champion ability might be unwise, or even wrong. Certainly nothing she’d encountered in the last few weeks had warranted it. Was there really going to be a situation that required her to control another person like a puppet? A crisis that she wouldn’t be able to stop without putting another person, arguably against their will, right in the middle of danger, while Adele watched and manipulated from a safe distance?

These were the thoughts that were on Adele’s mind the night of the fire.

She noticed the wave of fear before she noticed the flames. She’d been focusing on limiting her senses to a few blocks, so the growing panic on the other side of the city wasn't strong enough to get her attention until the fire had consumed an entire floor of the fancy hotel. Adele raced towards it, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and mentally kicking herself for not noticing it earlier.

Finally, she was standing on the rooftop across the street. Crowds had gathered on the opposite side of the street, and there were paramedics on hand treating people for smoke inhalation. A large number of firemen were aiming multiple hoses at the inferno, with little effect. Adele scanned them all with her mind, and settled on one of the younger ones, idealistic and desperate to be a hero. She sighed and held her hand out flat, like Nooroo had instructed her. A few moments later, a small white butterfly landed on it. She cupped her other hand over it, concentrated, and released it. The butterfly, now purple with gold lining, fluttered gently down to ground level and across the street; as far as Adele could tell, nobody noticed it. It landed on the young fireman’s hat, and suddenly Adele’s mind was connected to his as clear as day.

“Hello, Stephen,” she said. From her vantage point, she could make out one of the firemen figures suddenly drop a hose, then quickly recover it.

“What the-who said that?”

“I am Butterfly,” Adele replied calmly, “a new guardian of Paris. I can give you the power to put out this fire, and save the lives of all the people trapped inside. Do you accept?”

“Have I gone crazy?”

Adele bit her lip. She knew, she _knew_ that this young man would accept her offer if he believed it to be genuine, which it was. But, after hearing a disembodied voice offer him power, the emotions at the front of his mind were now confusion, doubt and fear-and who could blame him? With their mind-link in place it would have been so _easy_ for Adele to simply turn those emotions off, speeding along the inevitable-and people's lives were at stake, every second counted.

But it didn't matter; Adele knew she couldn't violate another person’s free will like that. There had to be lines she wouldn't cross. Instead, she sighed and did her best to reason with him.

“You're perfectly sane, I promise. This is just a mental connection; I seek out those who are pure and courageous of heart, and bestow upon them-”

“Why don’t _you_ just put the fire out?”

“Don't you think I would if I could?” Adele snapped. “It doesn't work like that! I can't give myself powers, I can only give them to others, to people who want to be heroes. I know you want to be a hero, Stephen. Please, _please_ accept my offer. You can save all those people.”

The young firefighter hesitated for only another second. “All right,” he said. “Do it.”

 

* * *

 

Adele was actually early to work the next day; she’d tried getting some sleep after the fire was successfully put out but she was just too excited.

When she arrived, all the others were in the break room, eyes glued to the small television set. Elise looked up as she entered.

“Did you hear?” she asked. “We have a new superhero!”

Adele yawned. “Yeah, I-”

“The news said it was the first one in like thirty years or something. It's about time, right? I mean, America’s lousy with them.”

Adele sat down on the couch next to Anna. “How much have you heard?” Anna asked. “We've been watching the reports all morning, it's all anybody can talk about anywhere. I think the higher-ups are frantically trying to build a line around it before someone else does.”

“Not that they have much to go on,” Elise added. “Apparently this superhero doesn't show her face when she saves Paris.”

“Shh,” Claire said. “They're replaying the interview with the hero guy, and I missed it the first time.” She leaned over the TV and turned the volume up.

“-next, an exclusive interview with the hero of the day, local firefighter Stephen Alvarez.” The news station played a brief clip of Stephen flying through the flames, completely unharmed, and summoning powerful jets of water as he went. The camera cut back to the interviewer.

“Mr. Alvarez, thank you so much for joining us. Now, I understand that you’ve only been a firefighter for about three months, is that correct?” Stephen nodded. “So had you ever seen a fire like this before?”

“Oh, no,” Stephen replied. “But I don’t think the veterans had ever seen one like it, either. It had overtaken the entire floor of a major building; we were doing our best, but at that point it was starting to look like we’d lose the whole building.”

“Were you scared?” Adele knew for a fact that he hadn’t been.

“Well, you just don’t let yourself think like that, in the moment,” Stephen said.

“And then you heard her?” Stephen nodded again. “Can you tell us about that?”

“It was this beautiful voice,” Stephen said, “like an angel from heaven.” Adele felt her cheeks grow red, but fortunately nobody was paying attention to her. “She called herself Butterfly. She said she was a new guardian of Paris, and that she could give powers to people who were good of heart, people who wanted to be heroes.”

“And she chose you?”

“Oh, well.” Stephen got suddenly embarrassed. “I mean, it must have just been random, the guys I work with, they all believe in what we do, I’m sure she could have picked any of them.”

“But she picked _you_ ,” the interviewer said, “And you singlehandedly put out that fire and saved dozens of lives. It seems like she made a good choice.”

“I couldn’t have done it without her.”

“And _she_ couldn’t have done it without _you_.” The interviewer took Stephen’s hand and shook it. “Paris thanks you for being the first of what will hopefully be a long line of heroes!”

The news station cut back to the studio, and Claire turned the volume back down.

“Must be kind of a bummer, getting to be a superhero for like ten minutes and then going back to being ordinary like everybody else,” Elise said.

“Are you kidding?” Claire asked. “It's the best of both worlds. You get one amazing moment to be a hero, and then you go back to your regular life. You have a story to tell your grandchildren, you have everyone’s admiration, everyone knows you’re pure and heroic of heart, but you don't have to sacrifice a normal life for it. It's perfect.”

“I'd _love_ to sacrifice my normal life if it meant getting to be a superhero,” Elise replied, “but to each her own, I suppose.”

Anna glanced to her left. “Adele’s asleep,” she said.

“Wow, I can't imagine sleeping through this,” Elise said. “I guess some people just aren't that into superheroes.”

 

* * *

 

A loud banging woke Adele up. Blearily, she grabbed her alarm clock and squinted; it was 4PM, and she was desperately trying to catch up on sleep after three nights in a row of Butterfly-related escapades. She’d been hoping to get at least five hours in, but it looked like that wasn't in the cards. Yawning, she dragged herself to the apartment door before whoever it was knocked it down.

“What the hell, Adele?” her brother asked as way of greeting, barging past her the second the door was open.

“Jonathan? What's wrong?” He looked at her disheveled form in disbelief as she tried, and failed, to suppress another yawn.

“Were you _napping_? At four in the afternoon?”

“So?” Jonathan started pacing anxiously around her apartment.

“So? So Marie said you’ve been late for half your assignments in the past week. You stood me up for lunch. And then I found out you skipped a doctor’s appointment! We can't _do_ that, Adele, what were you thinking?”

“I...I just forgot, Jonathan, that's all.”

“No, you didn't.”

“What? Of course I did.”

“No, you didn't, because _I’m_ the flaky and irresponsible one and I haven't forgotten a single doctor’s appointment since Mom’s diagnosis, which means _you_ haven't forgotten a doctor’s appointment since Mom’s diagnosis.” He stopped pacing suddenly and sat down hard. “Oh my god, that’s it, isn't it? The sleeping in the middle of the day, the headaches, missing check-ups…”

“ _Jonathan_. I am _not_ sick, I am _not_ dying. I swear I would tell you if I were. I've just been...busy lately, that's all.”

“What could possibly be more important than staying on top of your health?”

“Stopping a bank robbery.” The words were out before Adele even knew she was considering saying them. She knew she shouldn't have, and yet she felt no regret, only relief. Finally, she wasn't alone anymore.

“You...what?”

“Well, technically a junior security guard named Denise stopped the robbery, I just...helped.” Jonathan narrowed his eyes.

“I heard about that...but that was… _no_.” A grin started to spread on Jonathan’s face despite himself. “Really?” Adele nodded. “How?”

“It’s a long...well, no, it’s not a particularly long story, but it’s weird.”

“Bitten by a radioactive butterfly?” Adele rolled her eyes.

“No.” She told him an abridged version of the night Mr. Fu approached her, leaving out his name and any identifying details, figuring those weren’t hers to tell.

“So...some stranger gave you a piece of jewelry.”

“It’s this.” She pointed to her brooch. Jonathan squinted at it.

“Didn’t you start wearing that over a month ago?”

“Yeah, I’ve been working my way up to going public,” Adele said. “There’s been something of a learning curve.”

“And it came with a fairy?”

“Technically,” Nooroo said, flying out of one of his many hiding places in the apartment, “I’m closer to a god than a fairy. But since I’m guessing you haven’t met either, the confusion is understandable.”

Jonathan stared, unblinking. Nooroo turned to Adele. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he asked her.

“Nooroo, I have been going out of my mind lately, and I trust Jonathan more than anybody else in the world. Besides, I need someone to help keep me grounded.”

“This is _so amazing_ ,” Jonathan said. “Look at that thing!” He laughed. “And you’ve been on the _news_ , you’re the first superhero in over a quarter of a century! This is…” Jonathan trailed off and sat down on Adele’s couch, muttering to himself occasionally and grinning like an idiot. Nooroo looked at Adele, who sighed.

“Look, I promise, once he gets over his initial shock, he will definitely help keep me grounded, okay?”

“So he,” Jonathan pointed at Nooroo, “gives you power, and then you give it to other people?”

“Not exactly. Nooroo powers my transformation into Butterfly; I actually have a lot of abilities of my own in that form, but the most powerful thing I can do is give powers to others.”

“If they’re ‘pure of heart’?” Jonathan asked, quoting the recent news reports.

“Eh, that wasn’t exactly...the person just has to want it, that’s all. But I’d rather not advertise the fact that I’m equally capable of making supervillains. I feel weird enough making superheroes.”

“Seriously? Why?”

“Because, it...it’s manipulative, and I’m putting other, regular people in danger while staying safely out of the action. That wouldn’t make you feel a _little_ conflicted?”

“Nah,” Jonathan said. “But I guess that’s why someone like you got chosen in the first place.”

“I guess.”

“So, putting your little moral qualms aside for the moment...are you going to show me this transformation, or what?”

Adele grinned. “Nooroo,” she said, “wings up!”

After the transformation was complete, Adele spun around. “What do you think?”

Jonathan made a face. “‘Wings up’? That’s your activation phrase?”

“Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“Eh, we can workshop it later,” Jonathan said, getting up from the couch and walking over to her. He circled around her. “Your eyes are purple,” he finally said.

“They are?”

“You didn’t notice? Jeez, if I had a superhero form I’d be looking in a mirror at it all day.” Adele rushed over to a nearby mirror, leaning in closely. Sure enough, her distinctive green eyes were now an unsettling light purple.

“Weird. Any other physical changes that you notice?”

“No, other than the eyes you look basically the same. That mask does a terrible job of hiding your identity, if that’s what it’s for.”

“Nooroo said there’s kind of a glamour that keeps people from noticing.”

“If you say so,” Jonathan said, clearly skeptical. “Okay, so what else does it come with?”

In response, Adele picked up her cane and twirled it around casually for a few moments, then brandished it like a sword. “We’re inside, or I’d show you how I can extend it to jump onto rooftops and stuff, too.”

“You run around on rooftops?”

“Yeah, it’s...it took some getting used to, but it’s pretty amazing. And I’m practically indestructible, apparently, so falling off isn’t a problem. I’ve been fighting petty criminals for a couple of weeks after work, and even three or four are no match for me, it’s crazy.”

“Indestructible, eh?” Without warning, Jonathan punched her arm hard. Adele felt basically nothing, but she punched him back on instinct, something she’d done hundreds of times before. Instead of laughing it off like always, though, Jonathan’s eyes widened and he staggered over to the couch, sitting down hard. Adele covered her mouth with her hands in horror.

“Oh my god, I’m _so_ sorry, I wasn’t thinking!”

“It’s fine,” Jonathan said through clenched teeth. “Lesson learned. So...super-strength?” Adele nodded, and Jonathan grinned through the pain. “Cool.”

Adele yawned again. “Glad you think so.”

Jonathan narrowed his eyes. “How much sleep have you gotten since last week?” he asked.

“Not enough, probably.”

“Okay, I’ll let you get back to your nap then.” He stood up and kissed her cheek. “Call me if you need _anything_ , anything at all, understand?” Adele smiled and nodded.

“Thanks, Jonathan.”

After he’d gone, Adele sighed and picked up her phone to call Mr. Fu.


	5. Not a Date

A few days later, Adele met up with Mr. Fu in his private studio; she’d explained what had happened over the phone, but it was the kind of thing that warranted an in-person conversation. Mr. Fu had made tea, and they were sitting across from each other in silence after Adele finished her story.

“Your brother cannot have a Miraculous,” Mr. Fu finally said, fixing Adele with a firm stare. She tensed.

“I didn't ask you to give him one,” she said defensively.

“You didn't _ask_ for anything,” the Guardian pointed out.

“I know, I know I should have cleared it with you first, but-and look, I _hate_ playing the orphan card here-but he was really worried he was losing the last member of his family, and it just slipped out. But I'm glad it did! Doing this by myself has been really taxing, and he's been _so supportive_. Just having someone I don't have to lie to, or someone who can cover for me, it's made such a difference. Surely in a hundred and sixty years you’ve had someone you leaned on like that?”

“I had the other Miraculous holders. You will, too. Soon.”

“I thought you said we wouldn't be able to know each other's identities at first.”

“Well, yes,” Mr. Fu admitted, “but eventually-”

“So, what, another month, maybe two, to pick the next hero, then another few months on top of that? At least? I'm looking at half a year alone. Maybe that doesn’t seem like a long time to you, but you’re practically ten times older than me. You’re telling me trusting civilians _always_ goes badly?”

“Not always, but often. Resentments build up. I've seen it ruin relationships far more often than help them.”

“Jonathan and I are all we have, he’ll _never_ resent me. Jonathan would do anything for me.”

Mr. Fu sipped his tea thoughtfully. “Perhaps,” he said. “I must admit, the relationships that are ruined are more often romantic in nature. The familial bond is a more stable one. Still, when the civilian finds out they can never have a Miraculous, there is invariably some understandable tension.”

“Never?” Adele asked. “I mean, sure, I see that you can't give him one now, just because he knows, but after he's helped me with a few missions, maybe you could-”

“No. Never. I went by his place of work earlier today. I read his energy. He is fundamentally unsuitable for a Miraculous.”

“Oh.” Adele considered asking for clarification, then decided she didn't really want to continue the conversation at all. Mr. Fu’s attitude about the whole thing was starting to bother her; she knew her brother better than anybody else in the world, energy reading or no, and she knew this was going to work.

 

* * *

 

Jonathan barged into Adele’s apartment without knocking, carrying a stack of books that went up to his chin. He dropped them on Adele’s table, then started pulling out papers from his bag.

“I've been to the library,” he said proudly.

“I can see that,” Adele said. She wasn’t that surprised; though Jonathan’s first and greatest love was the theater, their parents had been academics who drilled a healthy appreciation for research into both their children. “You’re a much bigger nerd than you let on, you know?”

Jonathan grinned. “Don't tell anyone. Okay, this isn't even close to everything there is on superheroes, obviously, but these are pretty good histories. I've been going through them and making notes, looking for patterns.”

“Did you find any?”

“Yeah. For starters-were you called upon because there’s some huge looming threat you’ll need to help defeat either now or in the near future?”

“No.” Adele glanced at Nooroo. “Right?”

“No threat,” Nooroo confirmed.

“Okay. Well. In that case, you’re probably going to be fighting ordinary disasters and crime for another three, four months before everything goes crazy. How often would you say Paris has to deal with a supernatural threat? Like, you remember that kid with the Ouija board last year?

Adele shuddered. “Of course.”

“Right, so, not necessarily that bad, but that kind of thing?”

“Mm...maybe six times in the last decade?”

“About, yeah. Well, get ready for that rate to go up to about once a month, maybe more.”

“Once a _month_? Why?”

Jonathan shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s _very_ consistent. A superhero shows up out of nowhere, crime rates fall and everyone’s happy, and then...things start happening. Maybe a local superhero raises the public consciousness and makes people more likely to meddle with dangerous magic, or maybe there’s some weird kind of fate at work that makes sure superheroes show up right before everything goes off the rails, who knows. The good news, at least, is that overall fatalities still drop, but incidents, property damage, non-fatal injuries, all those tend to skyrocket.”

Adele frowned and looked at Nooroo. “Does that seem accurate to you?”

Nooroo considered this. “I’m not around when there aren’t active superheroes,” he pointed out, “but dealing with supernatural problems once a month sounds about right.”

Adele took a breath. “Okay, that’s...well, hopefully there will be another Miraculous holder by the time that happens, because I’m not sure I can deal with this getting any crazier than it already is. What else do you have?”

Jonathan handed her a sheet of paper. “There’s nothing officially on Miraculouses that I could find in the library, but based on your description of yours I put together a list of people throughout history that might have also been holders.”

“This list starts almost a thousand years ago,” Adele said.

“Hey, you said Nooroo was way older than that,” Jonathan said. “I can go back even further if you like, but it gets pretty hard to separate fact from myth at that point.”

“Oh, Jeanne!” Nooroo exclaimed suddenly, having already read the whole list over Adele’s shoulder. “I miss her,” he continued fondly. “She wasn’t one of mine, of course, but she was special.”

Adele quickly scanned the list. Her jaw dropped. “Of _Arc_?” she asked. “Jeanne d’Arc? The greatest French hero of all time, was a Miraculous holder like me?”

“Oh, yes,” Nooroo said. “Of course, unlike you she was called upon to deal with a specific-”

“Wait a minute, didn’t she die when she was nineteen?” Adele asked.

“Yes, but-”

“ _I’m_ nineteen! Oh, God, Jonathan, you were right, I’m going to die.”

“No, no!” Nooroo said quickly. “Jeanne was a very rare case. Almost all Miraculous holders live long, full lives.”

“Yeah, superheroes don’t actually die very often,” Jonathan said. “Well, not as superheroes anyway. Presumably they eventually die like all the rest of us, but a superhero dying in the line of duty is rarer than I was expecting.” He thumbed through a stack of papers, then handed Adele one covered in statistics.

“Jeez, this is thorough. You realize you could publish this?”

“Eh, I'll pass. I should probably have as little to do with superheroes as possible in the public eye, if I want to minimize getting kidnapped by villains who figure out our connection in the future.”

“Minimize?”

“Oh, it's definitely going to happen at least once. Here’s a rough probabilistic model I came up with.” Jonathan handed her some more papers and Adele rolled her eyes.

“You have a very inflated view of your minor in statistics, you know that?”

Jonathan grinned. “I can see I've hit your limit; no worries, we can put it on hold for now. I can just hold on to all this and dig stuff up as it becomes relevant. I'm really looking forward to being your go-to for, like, research and stuff. And excuses. And rides, I guess, since you don't have a car. Anyway, it'll be fun.”

“It's certainly starting to feel more like something fun and less like something driving me crazy now that you're in on it,” Adele said. “I don't know how I can thank you.”

“I do; got dinner plans tonight?”

Adele smiled. “No, I'm free,” she said.

“Perfect, you can join me and Gabe.”

Adele blinked. “Pardon?”

“Gabriel? Agreste?”

“Yeah, I know who you meant. Why on earth do you want me, of all people, third-wheeling your date with Gabriel Agreste? And aren't you a little old for a chaperone?”

“It's not a _date_ , Adele, jeez. I just thought it would be fun for the three of us to hang out.”

“ _Why_?”

“Why not? Look, I like Gabe, I like you, I heard you're still kind of awkward around him at work on account of biting his head off that one time, I thought it would be nice if we all hung out outside work and moved past that. You said you owed me, right?”

Adele narrowed her eyes. “You're being weird,” she said. “Normally you couldn't care less what I think of your friends.”

Jonathan groaned. “You’re so annoying. Just be ready at seven, okay?”

“Fine, fine, but I'm not convinced this isn't secretly a date.”

 

* * *

 

 

Dinner wasn't quite as awkward as Adele feared it would be. She’d avoided Gabriel like the plague at work ever since yelling at him, but tonight he actually seemed happy to see her. Well, not happy exactly-Gabriel never seemed _happy_. Less wound-up, perhaps. Adele and Gabriel didn’t interact much directly at first-Jonathan filled the silence singlehandedly by talking about his latest play, a subject he could typically go on about indefinitely if nobody interrupted him.

“-and then Aufidius had some kind of family emergency come up, so apparently he’s going to be out for an entire week during the run! Finally being an understudy pays off, am I right? So obviously you guys have to come see it then, it’s the second week of September.”

“Jonathan’s _really good_ at Shakespeare,” Adele told Gabriel, somewhat over-emphatically. “I’m not usually a huge fan, but he really brings it to life.” Jonathan narrowed his eyes at Adele and mouthed ‘ _What are you doing?_ ’ at her while Gabriel wasn’t looking. She shrugged.

“Ah...yes, I believe I saw him in King Lear back in college, he’s very talented,” Gabriel said.

“Oh, you saw that, didn’t you Adele?” Jonathan asked. “Gabe did the costuming for that, too.”

“Right, that was...well, okay, I don’t actually _remember_ the costumes, but I’m sure they were great.”

“Thank you.” There was a slightly awkward pause.

“Have you done any work on Jonathan’s latest play, Gabriel?” Adele finally asked. Gabriel shook his head.

“No, not on this one,” he said, “although he’s dragged me into designing for rather a lot of them in the years since we graduated. Your brother is preternaturally skilled at getting others to give him something for nothing.”

Adele laughed so loudly at this that people at neighboring tables shot her dirty looks. She covered her mouth with her hand, still giggling somewhat, and sent Jonathan an apologetic look. “Um, actually,” she said, “Jonathan’s a lot more helpful than he lets on, he’s always doing favors for other people.” She winked at Jonathan, who rolled his eyes in response.

Just as the entrees arrived, Adele’s pager went off. She glanced down and read the words ‘SUBWAY CRASH’. She groaned. “I'm sorry, I have to go.”

“What? Seriously? We haven't even started-”

“Yes, Jonathan, _seriously_ ,” Adele said, giving him a Look and showing him her pager under the table. His eyes widened.

“Oh...yeah, I guess you should probably take care of that.”

“Yeah. Sorry to be rude, Gabriel, I’ll see you at work,” Adele said as she grabbed her purse, kissed her brother on the cheek, and waved a quick goodbye on her way out.

Jonathan and Gabriel sat in silence for a few minutes in the wake of her exit.

“Well,” Gabriel said calmly, reaching for a glass of water, “I think it's safe to say that was an unmitigated disaster.” Jonathan rolled his eyes and grabbed another dinner roll.

“Look, Gabe, trust me when I tell you that when a date with my sister is an unmitigated disaster, she lets you _know_. I mean, the girl is not shy about sharing her true feelings. Didn't you say that's why you like her?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, “although now I'm beginning to regret telling you that in the first place. It's obvious she has no interest in me, I should have just moved on instead of dragging you into it.”

Jonathan looked at him, mock-wounded. “I'm hurt, Gabe. You know I love being dragged into things. Anyway, just give it time. She laughed when you insulted me, that's a good sign.”

“Why was she talking about you so much?”

“Oh, she thought I dragged her along to wing-man for me. I denied it, obviously, but since I couldn't exactly explain that _I_ was wing-manning for _you_ , she remained suspicious.”

“Is that why she left early?”

“No, I'm pretty sure that was a real emergency.” Jonathan quickly glanced towards the exit; in the distance, he could hear sirens. “You'll have to get used to that, I have a feeling she's going to be having a lot of those in the future.”


	6. Enter Paon

Adele’s apartment phone rang. Without taking her eyes off her catalogue, she reached over to pick it up with one hand while, with the other, taking the pencil she was chewing on out of her mouth. “Adele Dumas,” she said.

“Adele?” It was Jonathan. “Have you seen the news in the past, oh, half hour?”

“No, I’m trying to plan my fall course schedule. I’ve been thinking, and graduating early is starting to seem-”

“ _Adele_. Turn your television on. Now.” His tone startled her-it was one he reserved for only the most serious of circumstances. Adele put the phone down and rushed to turn her TV set on. She watched the news, speechless for a full minute, before retrieving her phone, her eyes still on the coverage.

“Minister Ortoli’s son was _kidnapped_?”

“In the future, maybe just leave the news on in the background whenever you’re home? You know, considering your current line of work.”

“Probably a good idea.” Adele took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how to handle this, Jonathan. My Champions usually just rush in, powers ablazing, but that approach could get this kid killed. I’ve never dealt with a hostage situation before. I’m calling the Guardian.”

“Makes sense. Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know. Can you drive over here, just in case?”

“Sure.” Jonathan paused. “I believe in you, Adele. I’m sure everything will turn out alright.”

“Thanks.” She hung up, then picked the phone up again to call Mr. Fu.

Mr. Fu’s phone rang three, four, five times. Adele had never had it ring more than twice before the Guardian answered; it somehow never even occurred to her that he might not be home to answer her if she needed him. Unsure of what else to do, she let it keep ringing, keeping a nervous eye on the news coverage playing across the room. Finally, over twenty rings in, Mr. Fu answered.

“Hello?” He sounded slightly out of breath.

“Sir? It’s Adele. Have you seen the news?”

“Yes, I’m aware of the situation.”

Adele was momentarily confused. “You...you are? Why didn’t you page me?”

“This is a more delicate situation than you usually deal with. It’s not one that’s suited to your particular talents. Instead of sending you to handle it alone, I’ve just recruited the next Miraculous holder to assist.”

Adele nearly dropped the phone. “What? _Now_? With a kid’s life on the line, you want to send in a total amateur?”

“I’ve had my eye on him for a while; he’s very well suited to the Peacock Miraculous, and quite level-headed. I’m sure there won’t be any issue.”

“I...well, okay, I guess. If you think it’s best. What should I do?”

“Locate the boy, then use your cane to call Paon; he’ll be waiting.” Before Adele could ask any more questions, the Guardian hung up. She looked at Nooroo, who had been floating nearby the entire time.

“Use my _cane_?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, all Miraculous holders can use their objects of power to contact one another while transformed,” Nooroo explained.

“Why am I only learning about this now?”

Nooroo shrugged. “There weren’t any other active Miraculous holders to call before now.”

Adele sighed. “Fair enough. Let’s find that kid.”

 

* * *

 

Adele made her way up to the roof of her building, bringing a map of Paris with her. This was a technique she’d begun practicing at Nooroo’s suggestion about a week ago, and she was finally starting to get the hang of it. Once she was outside, and sure she was alone, she transformed into Butterfly and started to scan the city, one segment at a time.

When she was this focused on getting an accurate location it was hard to get much more in the way of specifics, so for now she just mentally filtered for “child”, “boy” and “completely terrified out of his mind”. When she got a hit, she circled the general area on her map. She couldn’t pinpoint exact locations, although Nooroo said that with practice she’d eventually come close, but for now all she needed was a general area. Once she was in range, she’d be able to tell pretty quickly if she was in the right place or not.

A short while later, Butterfly had finished scanning the city and she had a map with four areas circled. It was three hits more than she was hoping for, obviously, and as far as she was concerned it was also four too many to begin with, but at least it wouldn’t be impossible to check each spot out individually. She considered simply going to each location by rooftop, but she’d been out for almost two months now, and after about ten Champions the public was starting to catch on to her preferred method of travel. She could be seen coming from a mile away by rooftop, and for this she needed stealth, so she walked over to the edge of her building that bordered the alley Jonathan usually parked in and casually jumped off, landing right in front of where he’d been waiting for the last few minutes. He yelped in surprise as she hit the ground.

“Don’t _do_ that!” he shouted at her through the windshield. He opened the door and got out to join her.

“Sorry,” she said. Jonathan waved it off.

“So, need a ride?”

“Yeah. I have four possible locations; Percy Ortoli has to be in one of them. I hope. But first, I need to call the new superhero.”

“You mean Champion?”

“No, I mean superhero. The Guardian gave out another Miraculous.”

It was a testament to how badly Jonathan wanted to be the supportive older brother that Adele had never felt anything resembling jealousy from him, even as Butterfly when her empathic senses were incredibly heightened. But now, upon hearing that a second Miraculous had been given out, she caught a brief flash of resentment towards whoever this new hero was. Butterfly could hardly blame him-but she also didn’t have time to worry about it.

“Okay, how do I-oh.” The cane, evidently responding to her will, shortened to less than a foot long, and several buttons appeared on its side. Under the usual number pad were six color-coded buttons with animal symbols; Butterfly recognized them as the other Miraculous animals. She pressed the blue one, then held the shortened cane up to her ear.

“Hello?”

“ _Ow_ ,” Butterfly replied, quickly yanking the makeshift phone away from her ear; it seemed it was on some kind of speaker phone mode.

“What, you don't have indestructible eardrums?” Jonathan asked, grinning. Butterfly made a rude gesture.

“Hello?”

“Hello! Hi. Yes. Sorry, this is my first time calling someone on this thing. This is Butterfly-but you probably knew that. Um, the Guardian said you’d be ready to help once I found the minister’s son, and I have a location. Well, four actually. But it's time to check them out, so we should meet up.”

“Sounds good,” a voice right behind Butterfly and Jonathan said. Now it was Butterfly’s turn to shout.

“What the- _how did you do that_?”

“Wow, you snuck all the way up on us just to have that dramatic intro?” Jonathan asked, impressed. “I approve.” He grinned at the new hero.

“ _No_ he did _not_ do that, because I would have felt him! I have been keeping an ear out, so to speak, for anybody nearby who might accidentally stumble upon us, and there was definitely nobody anywhere nearby two seconds ago!”

Butterfly hadn't quite realized until this moment how much her empathic sense had become as natural to her as the other five. Feeling an emotional signature right behind her that definitely hadn't been there an instant earlier was exactly as shocking as if she’d seen someone appear out of thin air.

Which, it turned out, made perfect sense, considering that's exactly how Paon had done it.

“Forgive me,” Paon said. “I thought it would be best if I simply teleported to your location.” Once she'd gotten over her shock, Butterfly finally bothered to really look at her new partner. He was quite tall, a slightly graying blonde with several flecks of blue and green in his short hair. He was wearing a blue suit, with tailcoats that resembled the feathers of a peacock, and a matching blue mask with pink accents around the edge. He also wore a bolo tie, with a teal fastener in the shape of a peacock that Adele assumed was his Miraculous. All together, it was a very good look on him.

“Why is his outfit so much better than yours?” Jonathan asked in a stage whisper. Paon looked at Jonathan as though he hadn't noticed him before, and his jaw dropped slightly.

“Oh, sorry,” Butterfly said. “Paon, this is my friend, Jonathan. He’s been helping me out while I've been on my own.” Jonathan held his hand out, and Paon shook it, still staring at Jonathan with a slightly shocked expression.

“Right...right, yes, the Guardian mentioned that you had a confidant-”

“And that under no circumstances were you to repeat my impulsive mistake?” Butterfly asked. Paon grinned.

“Something like that. I wasn't expecting…”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Paon shook his head, as though to clear it. “We should get going.”

“Good idea,” Jonathan said, opening the door to his car and getting in. Butterfly and Paon followed suit, Butterfly grabbing the passenger seat while Paon took the back.

“Seatbelts,” Jonathan said as he put the car in gear.

“You know we’re indestructible, right?” Adele asked, pulling the belt across herself.

“Yeah, my windshield doesn't need a couple of indestructible superheroes flying through it, thanks.” Jonathan glanced at Butterfly’s map, then started driving towards the nearest circled area.

 

* * *

 

“I can feel him,” Butterfly said as they approached the first spot. “Take a left at the next intersection.”

“Is it Percy?” Jonathan asked, turning the wheel.

“I can't tell yet.”

“This area’s pretty busy,” Paon said. “I highly doubt a team of criminals who’d committed a high-profile kidnapping would be laying low here.”

“Agreed, but we'd better make sure. I should be able to tell in another block.” They drove in silence for a few minutes, until Butterfly sighed dejectedly. “False alarm, it's a kid watching a scary movie behind his parents’ backs.”

“A scary movie?” Jonathan asked, changing direction to head towards the second lead. “Fear from a scary movie reads the same as fear from being kidnapped?”

“From a six-year-old? Yeah, pretty much. Or at least from this one it does. Little kids tend to feel things all the way.”

It took them about fifteen minutes to reach the next spot, and unlike the first time Butterfly didn’t immediately pick up on anything as they approached. Jonathan circled the general area a few times, but they soon gave up.

“Whoever it was, he’s calmed down now, so it's unlikely we’re in the right spot,” Butterfly said. “Even if Percy had been knocked out, I'd be able to sense the kidnappers. We can come back if we rule out the next two spots, but for now we should move on.” She marked the spot on the map with an asterisk instead of crossing it out like the first one, and they continued to the third location.

This one was almost half an hour away from the first two spots, in an area filled with abandoned warehouses and factories. “Well, this looks promising,” Jonathan said as they started driving around.

“It feels promising, too,” Butterfly said, scanning the area mentally. “Turn here.” She pointed to one of the old factories. “The fear I felt earlier has only gotten stronger, and there are several men with evil intentions nearby.”

“Like him?” Paon asked, pointing. There was a man down a side alley; he looked through the car windows, spotted Butterfly, and immediately started running for the door. Butterfly groaned.

“We have _got_ to get this thing tinted windows if you’re going to be driving us around,” she said to Jonathan as she started to unbuckle her seatbelt. Paon put a hand on her shoulder.

“Allow me,” he said. He disappeared, and a second later, a hundred feet away, the lookout ran straight into Paon’s fist and knocked himself out. Paon grinned and waved back at the car.

The Dumas siblings stared in awe, neither moving to exit the vehicle. Then Butterfly leaned over and whispered, “Dibs.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I called dibs.”

“You can’t call dibs on a _superhero_ , that’s not fair.”

“All’s fair,” she said, exiting the car. She turned back and grinned. “You’d better get out of here, it could be dangerous. Let the superheroes handle this.” She winked and shut the door. Jonathan stuck his tongue out at her, then drove off.

Butterfly scanned the building as she joined Paon. “Good work,” she told him, “you definitely prevented him from sounding an alarm, nobody inside suspects a thing.”

“If you can tell where they are in the building, I can go invisible and teleport in and out fast enough to grab Percy before being detected.” Paon had spent the ride over briefly explaining his abilities; in addition to the combat instincts and enhanced strength and durability that all Miraculous transformations seemed to come with, he could teleport at will, and turn invisible once per transformation.

“They’re on the third floor, but let me call the police first; we want them to be able to rush in and arrest everyone once we’re out.” Butterfly picked up her cane; its transformation into a phone felt a bit more instinctual this time. She dialed the emergency number, making a mental note to get a number for a direct line to the head of the police force at some point in the future.

“Hello, what’s your emergency?”

“Hi, this is Butterfly. The, ah, superhero. I've located the minister’s son, and I’ll be able to get him out without being detected, but I need undercover police officers on-hand to surround the building and be ready to rush in once we’ve extracted him.”

There was the briefest of stunned pauses. “Of course. What’s your location?” the operator asked. Butterfly gave her the address, and stayed on the line until she was certain everything was in place, continuing to monitor the building for suspicion or panic.

“Time to go,” she finally said to Paon. “Everything’s ready.”

“And you’re sure the kidnappers don't suspect a thing?

“No, I can read them perfectly from this close and they're all pretty calm. Ugh, not a single one of them feels an ounce of remorse or pity for Percy, either, it’s disgusting. I don't understand how people like that can-”

“Hey, hey,” Paon interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder. Butterfly’s voice had been starting to raise, and she forced herself to calm down. “It’s okay, we’re going to fix everything,” he continued.

“Right. Sorry, I just...get angry sometimes.” She took a deep breath and let it out. Paon removed his hand from Butterfly’s shoulder; immediately, she missed it. “Okay, they’re all on the third floor, in the northwest corner, except for two lookouts on the roof. If you take us to the second floor room below them, I can point out their exact locations.” Paon nodded and took Butterfly’s hand in his, then promptly disappeared. Butterfly blinked and looked around. A second later, Paon was back.

“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I'm still getting the hang of this. Rajji said I could take others with me, but...perhaps I need to hold on better?” He took each of her hands this time, and an instant later they were both inside the building. Butterfly flashed him a quick thumbs up, then started walking around the empty room, focusing on the emotional signatures above her.

Near the center, she pointed up to a specific spot. “Percy’s here,” she whispered. Paon nodded and stood about a foot off from where she’d indicated. She continued around the room, occasionally pointing up to indicate the presence of one of the kidnappers. When she’d finished her circuit she’d identified five men, all located on the outer edges of the room. Paon nodded to her, took a deep breath, and whispered something, still trying to be as quiet as possible. There was a small flash of light, and then he was gone.

Butterfly couldn't tell when he’d teleported out of the room, but only a few seconds went by before he was back, along with both Percy and the chair he was tied to. Butterfly rushed to the kid’s side; he was still terrified, but luckily for them momentarily shocked into silence.

“Hi!” Butterfly whispered, kneeling down to untie his legs as Paon worked on the ropes around the back. “I’m Butterfly, and this is my new partner Paon, and we’re here to rescue you. I need you to be _very quiet_ , do you understand?”

Percy nodded silently; already Butterfly could feel the faintest spark of hope underneath his fear, beginning to grow, but the fear wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Butterfly tried not to focus on how much she hated the men above them, who she could now hear-and feel-beginning to panic. It would take them a little while to think to look in this room specifically, but time was of the essence.

“I thought you only sent other people,” Percy whispered nervously. Butterfly forced herself to smile at him, trying to keep him calm.

“You’re very special,” she whispered back, keeping her voice as upbeat as possible, “so I had to come myself. I even got a new partner, just for you!” The ropes finally came free, and she suppressed a groan as she felt the men finally start to leave the room above them. “Percy, I need to pick you up so my partner can teleport all three of us out of here, is that okay?” Percy nodded and Butterfly stood and picked him up; he clung to her like his life depended on it, burying his face in her. Paon grabbed her shoulders, and an instant later they were outside, a full block away, blinking at the sudden brightness of the sun.

“Where are those undercover cops?” Paon asked, looking around. Butterfly tried to scan the area mentally, but the task was made virtually impossible by having a terrified child right on top of her, whose emotions were drowning out all others at this proximity. Fortunately, the three of them were incredibly conspicuous in broad daylight, and an officer approached them almost at once.

“You have him? Is it safe to proceed? Paon nodded, and the officer barked a command into her walkie-talkie. “Please, come this way-Percy, I'm going to take you back to your parents now, okay?” Butterfly tried putting the child down, but he clung to her even tighter, a feat Butterfly would not have thought physically possible. “Or...I guess _you’re_ bringing him to his parents,” the officer corrected herself. “They’re behind the radius we set up, very nearby. Come on.” The two superheroes followed the officer around a corner, and about fifty feet away they could see the minister and his wife behind a makeshift barrier. The second Percy was in view, his parents were both running towards them, ignoring the objections of a man who appeared to be the chief of police.

“Percy, look, it's your parents!” Butterfly said, with an artificial brightness. Finally he looked up, then loosened his grip on her. She set him down, and he ran towards them. He didn't start crying until after he was safe in their arms. Even from twenty feet away, the relief his parents felt at finally having him back crashed into Butterfly like a tidal wave, and she wondered how many more intense emotional swings she could weather before the day was over.

“Butterfly, I have about three minutes before I de-transform,” Paon said, looking at his Miraculous, and then at the throngs of reporters behind the barrier, eagerly taking photos of both the touching reunion and the superheroes standing nearby. “I should probably-”

“There is absolutely no way you are leaving me alone to deal with the police _and_ the parents _and_ the press. You can teleport away in two minutes and fifty seconds and not a second earlier,” Butterfly said calmly. Paon sighed, and they made a beeline for the chief, who was walking towards them already.

“Butterfly, I can't thank you enough,” he started, grabbing her hand and shaking it. “It’s an honor to finally meet you in person-you know, one of my protégés was a Champion of yours a few weeks ago, a Mr-”

“That’s wonderful,” Butterfly interrupted, “but I'm afraid we need to be gone in two minutes, so if there’s anything urgent?”

“Of-of course. First of all, we caught eight men, were there any we missed?”

Butterfly frowned. “Five in the room, two on the roof...”

“And the one I knocked out in the alley,” Paon added.

“Oh, right. Yeah, that’s all of them. Were any of your officers injured?”

“A bullet grazed one,” the chief said, “but on the whole it went much, much better than anyone was imagining it would three hours ago.” He looked at Paon, slightly confused. “Is this your latest Champion? He’s a lot fancier than the others.”

“No,” Butterfly said, “this is my new, _permanent_ partner, Paon. He did all the real work in the rescue today.”

“Oh!” The chief shook Paon’s hand energetically and sung his praises as Paon tried in vain to object to this characterization of events.

“Chief,” Butterfly interrupted, “we’ll be in touch, I promise, but we really must be going.” She looked at Paon, who grabbed her shoulders and teleported them both to a private rooftop a block away before the chief could object.

Paon breathed a sigh of relief. “Is it always that intense?” he asked.

“Not at all; I can't imagine this being my first mission. You did amazing work today.” She smiled up at him, then noticed the last circle on his clasp blinking frantically. “I guess you’d better go; I'll see you on patrol tonight.” Paon nodded, bowed, and disappeared.

 

* * *

 

Jonathan had been back at his apartment watching the news for about half an hour when it finally reported on the safe return of Percy Ortoli. Jonathan hadn't really been aware of how nervous he’d been for the poor kid until he learned Percy was safe, and a knot in his chest he hadn't been aware of finally loosened. The news _also_ reported on the first clear look at Butterfly and, even more excitingly, her new partner, Paon. They’d disappeared shortly after returning the child, though, so after about ten minutes the coverage mostly devolved into speculation.

About fifteen minutes after that, Jonathan heard his sister land in the next room, via the open window. She’d dropped her transformation by the time she poked her head in the room.

“Jonathan?”

“Hey! Congratu-” Jonathan was cut off as Adele launched herself at him, hugging him fiercely. Jonathan hugged her back.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No,” she replied, the tears she’d been bottling up all day finally starting to fall. “I felt _everything_ , it was _awful_. The kid, his parents, those monsters that took him, you have no idea, and I just had to keep going and-” she shuddered, cutting herself off. “Who _does_ that to a _child_? For _money_?”

“It's okay,” Jonathan said, continuing to hold her. “You saved him. He might not be fine now, but he will be soon. You did that.”

“Yeah, I guess, it just-I didn't really let it affect me until it was all over and now I'm kind of freaking out. Can I stay here for the rest of the day?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jonathan grabbed his remote and turned the news off. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Thanks, but no. I want to stop thinking about it for a while.” She took the remote from Jonathan and sat down on his couch, turning the TV on and flipping through channels until she found a mindless sitcom they used to watch growing up. Jonathan joined her, putting his arm around her, and she leaned against him. They spent the rest of the afternoon there, Adele only occasionally bursting into tears without warning, until eventually the sun set and they both felt grounded once more.


	7. A Night Out

Somehow, when Adele had been weighing the pros and cons of being an empathic superhero back at the beginning of the summer, she hadn’t considered that she’d now be able to tell immediately if people didn’t like her or not. Probably this was because Adele had until now been under the impression that basically everyone liked her, or at least everyone whose opinion mattered.

Adele’s academic advisor, it turned out, did not like her.

“Ah, Adele,” Professor Rostand said, not getting up from her desk when Adele knocked on her open door and poked her head in five minutes early. “Please, sit down.”

Outwardly, her advisor was the very image of professionalism, but Adele instantly felt her irritation and preemptive exhaustion. Adele did her best to not feel defensive, but she was honestly baffled. She couldn’t believe that she’d never picked up on this in their weekly meetings last year.

Their weekly meetings… of course, most students only met with their advisors once or twice a semester.

And Adele had scheduled most of those herself.

And they were mostly concerning her major, which Adele couldn’t seem to settle on, so the meetings were usually just Adele running the pros-and-cons list of her latest top five by the professor.

Which tended to change drastically from week to week.

Unless, that is, she was going over her latest plan for completing a four-year degree in two years. In great detail.

Over the emphatic objections of Prof. Rostand.

Okay, now that Adele really thought about it, maybe it wasn’t such a mystery that her advisor didn’t like her.

“So,” Professor Rostand began, “where should we begin?” She looked at Adele’s file. “I see you aced all your summer classes, so your plan to graduate in a year is looking slightly less impossible.”

“About that,” Adele said. “Due to some personal circumstances arising over the summer, I’ve decided it makes more sense to just graduate in four years like everybody else.”

Professor Rostand was speechless for a minute. “Not early at all? You know, after the number of credits you earned last year you could take a lighter than average course load each semester from now on and still graduate a year early.”

“Or I could take the lightest load allowable and just graduate on time, right? If that’s all right-I know it’s unusual, but this personal thing, I think it’s going to be taking up a lot of my time for the foreseeable future.”

“I see.”

“And I probably won’t be able to meet with you very often from now on,” Adele added impulsively, hoping this would undo some of the damage she’d apparently done last year. Instead, it just turned her advisor’s confusion into outright worry. She leaned over the desk and gently took Adele’s hand in her own.

“If you need to take a medical leave of absence, Adele, there are resources for-”

“Oh, no, no, no,” Adele said quickly. “It’s nothing like that, I promise. Just...family business.”

“Oh! Well, all right then. I suppose that’s everything; feel free to get in touch if your plans change or you have any questions about anything.” The advisor’s tone was bright and she was smiling, but Adele could tell she was hoping fervently that Adele would not be taking her up on either of these offers.

As Adele turned to go, something on her advisor’s desk caught her eye: a purple spiral-bound notebook, with an exact picture of Adele’s mask on its cover.

“Is that...a Butterfly-themed notebook?”

“Oh!” Professor Rostand’s emotions did a complete 180 as she picked up the notebook to show Adele. “Yes, yes it is. Are you a fan?”

Adele couldn't stop staring, and the question almost didn't register. “Oh, uh, yeah, definitely,” she replied after a pause.

“You don't need to humor me, dear, I know superheroes aren't for everybody.” The professor’s annoyance was back, but Adele was too distracted to mind at this point. “I mean, you don't actually have to appreciate everything she does for this city to benefit. She’ll still save your life either way, right?”

“...Yes?”

“Of course, given your age I would've thought you’d be a little more excited. She’s your first, right? The last Parisian hero must have been, what, at least five years before you were born?”

Adele kept staring at the notebook. “Right, no, she's great.”

“Maybe you just can't appreciate what it's like to go so long without one. I was starting to think I wouldn't see another in my lifetime, actually. I still remember my first, I was much younger than you and still living in Italy, it was...” the professor continued on for a bit, describing a superhero that Adele vaguely remembered learning about in a history class several years ago.

Finally, Adele managed to snap herself out of her shock. “Oh, no, I love Butterfly,” she said emphatically, “I’m very excited about her, I just didn't realize there was already merchandise. She's only been active since May. Sorry, June,” she corrected herself quickly, remembering she hadn't actually been public for the first three weeks.

“Well, not for the general public there isn't; this is only available to members of the official fan club. I'm one of its founding members, actually.” It dawned on Adele that her advisor A) believed she was in some significant way much closer to Butterfly than Adele was, and B) was _incredibly_ proud of that fact. This was just about Adele’s already stretched limit on surrealism in any given day, so she congratulated her advisor and exited the office as quickly as possible.

 

* * *

 

Jonathan’s reaction to hearing Professor Rostand’s true feelings towards Adele was not at all the one of tender sympathy and validation Adele had been fishing for when she told him.

“It’s not _that_ funny,” Adele snapped defensively. She was hanging out at his apartment, organizing her class binders while Jonathan reviewed lines for his upcoming understudied role. Or at least, that was ostensibly what he was doing; what he was actually doing was bothering Adele.

“Oh, you poor, sweet teacher’s pet,” Jonathan said. “How are you holding up? Has the shock completely paralyzed you, or do you think you’ll be able to carry on?”

“What am I supposed to _do_ , Jonathan?”

“You realize not everybody has to like you, right?”

Adele rolled her eyes and went back to her binders. Jonathan picked his script back up, and they sat in silence for about ten minutes before Adele spoke.

“Did you...did you know I have a fan club?” she asked.

“What? What are you talking about? Why would you have a fan club?” Adele fixed her brother with a level stare and waited for the other shoe to drop. About forty seconds later, his eyes widened. “Ohhhhhh, right. Wow. Yeah, I guess you would, wouldn’t you? Weird.”

“My advisor’s a member. Stop laughing.”

“Sorry, sorry.” Jonathan kept grinning. “Should we join?”

“ _No_.”

“You know, your birthday’s coming up soon.”

“Jonathan, I swear to God, do _not_ sign me up for that or you will regret it.”

Jonathan winked. “Message received, say no more.”

Adele left a few hours later; Jonathan stopped her on her way out, handing her a book.

“Oh, I almost forgot, can you give this to Gabe when you see him? I'm basically living at the theater starting tonight, so you’ll probably see him before me.”

“Sure.” She took the book, started to leave, then turned back. “I've been meaning to ask, why do you call him Gabe? Practically the only time I ever get a clear emotional read on him is when you do that and he _hates_ it.”

“You’re really good at answering your own questions, you know that?”

 

* * *

 

After her next photoshoot, Adele made her way to Gabriel’s new office before leaving. His door was open, so she took half a step in.

“Gabriel?”

“Oh, Adele. Come in.” Gabriel moved some papers off to the side of his desk as Adele approached.

“I was asked to return this,” she said, holding up the book. She walked behind him and peered over his shoulder. “Working on the new line?”

“Sort of.” He started shuffling through his sketches. “I’m officially working on the concept art for it, but I keep getting distracted by-”

“Oh!” Adele gasped, snatching one of the pages out of Gabriel’s stack before he could stop her. “This is…” She trailed off, gently tracing her fingers over the lines.

It was Adele, and she was _beautiful_.

Of course, Gabriel had no idea it was Adele. “I just had a couple of ideas for the costume,” Gabriel explained. “Paon’s seems to have several personal touches; I thought Butterfly’s could use some as well. Do you like it?”

Not trusting herself to speak, Adele nodded emphatically. She continued to trace her fingers over the sketch, lingering over an elegant wing-shaped capelet. Somehow, Gabriel had made her look powerful and gentle at the same time; was this how the public saw her?

“I'm afraid I need that back, actually,” Gabriel finally said, “I have a meeting soon.”

“That’s too bad, it's nice when you’re around,” Adele said quietly to herself, still gazing at his Butterfly sketch.

“Pardon?”

Adele snapped out of her reverie. She’d been referencing the fact that Gabriel’s emotional signature was almost undetectable. Being around him was relaxing, almost like going back in time for a little while, back to before she’d had all the superhero business weighing on her mind constantly. But of course, she couldn't say any of that. She returned the sketch.

“This is perfect,” she said as she handed it back. “Thank you for showing it to me.” She started towards the door.

“So, Butterfly is your favorite, then?” Gabriel asked as Adele was leaving. “Of the two of them, that is. She's mine as well, actually.”

Adele smiled to herself, still facing away from Gabriel. “Oh, I suppose,” she said, “although she's _much_ better now that she has Paon.” Adele wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she thought she felt a brief flash of pride from Gabriel; possibly it was a delayed reaction to how much she'd admired his sketch.

 

* * *

 

Butterfly arrived at the usual rendezvous point about half an hour after sunset, and was surprised to find Jonathan already there, chatting Paon up. She vaguely remembered mentioning their patrol route to Jonathan last week, and made a mental note to stop telling him things until he’d moved on from trying to seduce the only superhero in Paris he wasn't related to.

“-and next week,” Jonathan was saying, leaning against the wall of the alley in a manner that might have seemed casual if Adele hadn’t watched him perfect it over many years, “I’ll be playing one of the leads.”

“Oh, really?” Paon asked, amused.

“You _have_ to promise you’ll be there,” Jonathan said emphatically. Paon laughed.

“Oh, I’ll be there,” he said, “But you’ll never know it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jonathan said, grinning. “Maybe I’ll surprise you and recognize you in your civilian form.”

“That would be pretty impressive.” Paon took half a step closer to Jonathan.

“Impressing a superhero, huh?” Jonathan asked, now close enough that he had to look up to meet Paon’s eyes. “That’s not an opportunity that comes along every day, is it?”

Butterfly coughed politely, and the two of them looked over, surprised to see her.

“Hi. Sorry to interrupt, but we should probably get going.”

“Right, of course.” Paon stood up straighter and walked over. “It was very nice seeing you again,” he called back to Jonathan, who waved before smirking at Butterfly once Paon’s back was turned. She rolled her eyes.

 _Back off_ , Butterfly mouthed at her brother silently, before joining her partner.

The two of them started on their usual rooftop circuit of the city, although both were a bit distracted.

“Your friend is…” Paon started, then stopped. Butterfly laughed.

“He is,” she agreed.

“Are you two...that is, are you interested in him?”

Butterfly nearly choked. “ _God_ , no,” she said, “he’s-” At the last possible second, she caught herself from finishing with “my brother” and effectively outing herself.

“He’s...?”

Butterfly wracked her brain for some other way to end the sentence. “Really gay,” she finally said. “Are _you_ interested? He’s single, you know. You two seemed to be getting along pretty well when I arrived.” Adele and Jonathan might occasionally fight over the same guy, but it was always just for fun-if the guy in question showed any genuine interest in either of them, the other would back off immediately.

“Oh, no,” Paon said. “I mean, yes, we were, but your friend has a way of drawing people in.”

Butterfly laughed loudly at this. “You’ve only just met him, you have _no_ idea.” They continued on, alternating sporadically between jumping from roof to roof and simply teleporting, a technique that was starting to feel natural after a few weeks of practice.

“There’s a girl, actually,” Paon said, breaking the silence about six rooftops later.

“Really?”

“I work with her. She’s…” Paon trailed off, his expression softening at the thought of her. In her current form, Butterfly could easily pick up on his affection. Despite feeling a little jealous, she was touched; Paon’s emotions didn't usually register so strongly. “Well, I suppose we’re supposed to avoid personal details, but you’d like her. She’s a fan of yours, actually.”

“Really?” Butterfly grinned, starting to like the sound of this mystery girl. “So you two are-”

“Nothing,” Paon said. “Just co-workers. Almost friends, maybe. I was working up the nerve to court her more directly, but now...I’m not sure it would be fair to her. I don’t know how other superheroes do it.”

“I hadn’t really thought of it like that,” Butterfly said. “I suppose you’re right.” It was a depressing thought; Butterfly wondered if any of Jonathan's statistical analysis included odds of a superhero/civilian relationship working out. The Guardian had suggested it was all but impossible unless the superhero kept her identity a secret, but Butterfly simply couldn't imagine living that way.

 

* * *

 

“You brought your pager?” Jonathan asked, incredulous.

“You know I have to,” Adele said, looking around the theater to make sure nobody was close enough to eavesdrop. Luckily she’d gotten to the theater early to wish Jonathan luck, and the place was nearly deserted. She looked back at her brother; he was significantly more nervous than usual, but hiding it well. Adele didn't mention it. “I promise I won’t leave unless there’s a real emergency,” she told him.

“You’d better not leave unless at least 40% of Paris is either on fire, underwater or both.”

“Noted.” They chatted a bit more, but soon Jonathan had to head backstage, and Adele took her seat. While waiting for the curtain to rise she alternated between reading her psych homework and checking her pager, idly wondering if she could keep it silent for three straight hours through sheer force of will.

As it turned out, sheer force of will only got her as far as halfway through Act II.

“CARJACKING”, her pager read. Adele told herself the police could handle it and returned her focus to the stage. A few seconds later, a second message came through: “BABY BACKSEAT”. Cursing internally, she opened the program, squinting at the synopsis in the dark. It looked like Jonathan wouldn’t be on for a while, as far as she could tell, so she grabbed her purse and made her way to the back of the theater.

By the time she got to the lobby she was practically running, so she didn’t see Gabriel Agreste until she’d collided straight into him, knocking both him and herself down.

“Ow-oh my God, I'm so sorry, are you okay?”

“Entirely my fault,” Gabriel replied, recovering quickly in order to help Adele to her feet.

“That's sweet of you to say, but I'm the one who ran through a doorway blindly. It's nice to see you, though, Jonathan didn't tell me you’d be attending tonight as well. What are you doing out here?”

Gabriel stared at her blankly for a few seconds. “Business emergency,” he finally said. “Looking for a pay phone.”

“Oh. I think there’s one down the hall.”

“Thank you.” Gabriel started to walk in the direction Adele had indicated, then turned back. “I'll see you after,” he said.

“Can't wait,” Adele called back. She breathed a sigh of relief as he turned a corner, then headed for the women’s room, which was fortunately unoccupied. She stashed her purse behind a potted plant, transformed, and exited through the open window.

 

* * *

 

Butterfly and Paon stared down at the car below them, occasionally teleporting along to new rooftops as it drove through the city.

“I don't think this calls for a Champion,” Paon said.

“Agreed. I figure we teleport into the backseat, and then we have two choices. Either you grab the baby and I take care of the carjacker, or you grab the carjacker and I take the wheel.”

“It's probably safer if I rescue the baby right away.”

“Works for me.” Butterfly held her hand up, Paon grabbed it tightly, and a second later they were sitting next to each other in the backseat of the stolen car.

Paon had total control over what position they arrived in, luckily, so there was no problem going from standing one second to sitting comfortably the next, but the change in momentum was still jarring. Butterfly and Paon’s bodies slammed loudly into the seats as they went from 0 to 30 MPH, and the criminal driving the car jerked the wheel in surprise.

“Watch it,” Butterfly told him, annoyed, as Paon leaned over the baby’s car seat.

“How do I unbuckle this? There are at least three different belts.”

“Just grab the whole thing, the parents can reinstall it later,” Butterfly said.

“Good idea.”

“Aww, he’s still sleeping, can you believe it?” Butterfly and Paon were completely ignoring the driver at this point, who found this almost as unnerving as their sudden appearance in the first place. Recovering slightly from his initial shock, he grabbed his gun and pointed it towards the two heroes, trying to keep an eye on the road at the same time. “You two better get out of here _right now_ , or-” Rolling her eyes, Butterfly deftly grabbed the gun out of his hand, cutting him off before he could finish his threat.

“Pull over,” she suggested, leaning forward as Paon disappeared with the baby. “I think we both know I'm getting this car back one way or another.”

“Go to-”

“Look, if you just park the car, get out and run, I won't even chase you, how about that? That's basically the best deal I've ever offered a bad guy. Not that you deserve it-I mean, who accidentally kidnaps a baby, right?-but I'm kind of in a hurry tonight.”

“What, you have a date or something?”

“Listen, buddy,” Butterfly said, what little patience she’d started this encounter with now completely gone, “my _fist_ has a date with your _face_ in about three seconds if you don't-” Before Butterfly could finish her threat, Paon reappeared.

“The baby is safely back with his mother at the station,” he reported. “Ready?”

“Very,” Butterfly replied. Before the carjacker knew what was happening, Paon had grabbed his shoulders and teleported them both away, presumably to a nearby jail cell. Butterfly quickly jumped into the driver’s seat; thanks to her enhanced dexterity, she had control of the vehicle before it posed any kind of threat to other drivers. She quickly parked it on the side of the road, called the police station to let them know where she’d left it, and headed back to the theater, hoping she hadn’t missed anything too important.

 

* * *

 

“You were so good!” Adele exclaimed, running to hug her brother once he finally appeared in the lobby.

“Thanks!” Jonathan was positively beaming; he’d been very popular with the audience, and his elation was so powerful it was making Adele slightly dizzy. “Did you like the play?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” said Adele, silently praying there wouldn't be any follow-up questions.

“Great! I’m so glad you’ve finally seen it, we can actually have a real conversation now. Didn’t you think some of its themes were particularly timely, given the way the last election went?”

“What? No. No, that is not a conversation I have any interest in having with you. Jesus.”

“Ugh, fine. At least tell me what your favorite part was.”

“The part with you in it?”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Come on, I know Shakespeare isn’t your thing but you usually have _something_ intelligent to say after seeing one of these.”

“Okay… I guess it was the scene, you know, where you teamed up with Marcus.”

“Who? Wait… Martius? Martius _Coriolanus_ , the main character? Whose name you apparently completely missed?”

“Oh, Marcus, Martius, whatever, you know who I meant. The scene where you two joined forces, that was really good.”

“Well,” Jonathan said, slightly mollified, “that’s probably my favorite scene, too.”

“I mean, I wasn’t entirely clear on _why_ it was happening,” Adele continued, “but it was very compelling all the same.”

“You weren’t? It was the entire focus of Act III, I would’ve thought you’d oh my _God_ , you left in the middle, didn't you?”

“I most certainly did n-oh, hey, is that Gabriel over there?” Adele waved at Gabriel across the lobby, hoping he’d join them and prevent Jonathan from yelling at her.

“You did!”

“Okay, there was this baby-”

“Adele!”

“I didn't miss any of _your_ scenes, I promise!” Before Jonathan could respond, Gabriel had reached them.

“Congratulations,” Gabriel said. “It was an excellent performance; I’m sure you’ll be getting more lead roles in the near future.”

“Thanks, man. What’d you think of the play?”

Remembering that she’d seen Gabriel taking a business call halfway through the play himself, Adele found herself hoping that Gabriel had missed a significant chunk of the play as well, and would also be unable to say much. That way she’d at least have a friend in trouble with her.

“Well,” Gabriel said, adjusting his glasses, “While I don't exactly share the Bard’s fascination with all things Roman, I did think that this play was somewhat apt given the political climate as of late.”

“That’s what _I_ was saying!”

Damn. Oh, well.

Jonathan and Gabriel went on for a while in this fashion while Adele waited patiently, understanding roughly a fifth of what they were talking about, until finally Gabriel congratulated Jonathan one more time and bid them both farewell. At this point almost everybody else had gone home. Jonathan took one last look around the place before they left together.

“I guess Paon didn’t come tonight. Well, that’s good, at least when he does come he won’t miss _everything_ like _some_ superheroes I could mention.”

Adele rolled her eyes. “How do you know he didn’t come?”

“I scanned the audience _very_ carefully before the house lights went down.”

“So? You’re not going to recognize him if you see him.”

“I definitely will,” Jonathan insisted. “You’ll see.”


	8. Revelations

Adele was hanging out with Elise and Anna in the break room after a particularly long shoot one afternoon when there was a rapid knock on the door, and Gabriel Agreste stuck his head in.

“Adele?”

Adele looked up. “Yes?”

“I-” he stepped into the room, holding something tightly. “I heard it was your birthday last week, and I remembered that you liked one of my sketches, so I thought-here.” He abruptly shoved the flat wrapped package towards her.

“Oh… thanks, Gabriel.” She started to open it, Anna and Elise each looking over one of her shoulders. All three girls gasped when the wrapping paper fell away. It was another picture of Butterfly, with the same outfit modifications as before, and this time with Paon standing behind her-but instead of a rough sketch, this picture was an incredibly detailed watercolor, and expertly framed. For a minute, Adele was speechless.

“Gabriel, this is stunning, thank you,” Adele finally said, trying not to get too choked up.

“I wasn't sure-if you'd prefer a version without Paon, I can make another, but you did say-”

“Oh _no_ ,” Adele said emphatically, “it's perfect like this. You can't split them up, they're a team, right?” Adele smiled, and Gabriel relaxed slightly.

“They are,” he agreed.

“You didn't change Paon’s outfit,” Elise pointed out.

“Well, no, I'd already-I mean. That is. I couldn't think of any improvements to make.”

Anna looked up, her eyebrows narrowing. “Are you feeling alright? I don't think I’ve _ever_ heard you say that about an outfit you didn't personally design.”

Gabriel cleared his throat. “First time for everything,” he said. “Anyway. I don't know if anyone's mentioned this to you, but the company has a rather extravagant New Year’s party every year-I know that's not for a couple of months, but the designers traditionally each design a dress for one of the models and I was wondering if I could make yours.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Adele replied.

“Excellent. I'll… I'll just get your measurements from Marie, then.” He nodded at Elise and Anna and left abruptly.

Anna turned to Elise. “Pay up,” she said. Elise groaned and grabbed her purse. She took out a note and handed it to Anna, who pocketed it with an uncharacteristic smugness about her. Elise looked at Adele.

“I wasn't betting against you in the _long_ term,” she said apologetically. “I just didn't think Gabriel would get his act together so fast. He's… well, you know. If it’s not work, he’s kind of clueless.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Adele said. “You two had some kind of bet?”

“Elise here didn’t think Gabriel would work up the nerve to ask you about the ball in time, but I knew true love would prevail,” Anna said, grinning mischievously.

“ _What?_ I… but he said all the designers do it. It can’t possibly be a romantic gesture?”

“Well, no, not usually. But Gabriel has that huge crush on you, so-”

“What? Says who?”

“You couldn’t tell?” Elise asked, genuinely confused. “It’s common knowledge.”

“I-no. No, no, no,” Adele said. “ _Trust_ me. If somebody had a crush on me, I would definitely be able to tell.”

Anna raised an eyebrow. “You think he just gives incredibly thoughtful birthday presents to everyone here?”

“...Yes?”

“Adele,” Anna said seriously, looking her right in the eye, “if you had asked me even half an hour ago, I would have expressed genuine doubt over whether Gabriel Agreste was even familiar with the _concept_ of a birthday.”

 

* * *

 

“Ready to go?” Jonathan asked, looking up at Adele from the driver’s side window of his car. In response, Adele held up her giant overstuffed duffle bag.

“Yep,” she said. Jonathan stared at it for a moment.

“Adele, we are going to be back in _two days_ , what could you have possibly packed in that thing? I _know_ you don’t own that much clothing.”

“Oh, you know, anything we might need. Screwdrivers. Batteries. Jumper cables.”

“Why do you have jumper cables? You don’t even own a car.”

“And? I still find myself in them from time to time.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Just get in.” Adele threw her duffel in the backseat and walked around to the passenger side.

“So,” she said once they were on the road. “Now that we’re stuck in a car together for three hours…”

“Oh boy.”

“Have you been trying to set me up with Gabriel Agreste?”

Jonathan glanced at her, then burst out laughing. “Well, that took you long enough. I’d assumed you figured out months ago and were just pointedly not saying anything for some reason.”

“ _Months_? I-why does everybody think I know this? How would I have figured it out exactly?”

Jonathan shrugged. “One, _everybody_ knows. Two, isn't that, like, your entire superhero deal?”

“Gabriel’s emotions are extremely muted!” she said defensively.

Jonathan considered this  “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “So what finally clued you in?”

“Well, he asked about designing a dress for-”

“Oh, nice, Marie owes me twenty francs.”

“Oh. My. God. Well, great. Just great. Now I have to completely reevaluate every single interaction I've ever had with him.”

“Well, we’ve got three hours.”

“What _exactly_ was your role in all this?”

“Oh, you know,” Jonathan thought for a second, “that dinner we went to, telling him what night you were coming to my play… giving him some advice on that birthday present…”

“That was _you_?”

“Not exactly-look, in my defense, Gabe is, like, _notoriously_ bad at birthdays. I was honestly stunned he had any ideas about yours at all. He remembered you liked that sketch all on his own, I just suggested the medium and the frame.” Jonathan grinned. “Besides, it was just too much fun to pass up. I mean… he painted a picture of _you_! For you! And he has no idea!”

“I'm so glad my life is such a source of amusement for you.”

“Yeah, me too. Oh, don't look at me like that,” he said, noticing her glare, “you know I never would have done any of it if I didn't think you two were weirdly perfect for eachother.”

“Jonathan,” Adele said slowly, trying not to lose her temper, “in case you hadn't noticed, I kind of have a lot going on right now. I'm not looking for a boyfriend.”

Jonathan scoffed. “Suuuuure you're not. Did you tell _Paon_ that?”

Adele turned bright red. “Paon’s different,” she mumbled. “Dating Paon would probably make my life easier, if anything.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “They don't write songs and stories about love making your life _easier_ , you know,” he said.

“Well.” Adele looked out the window. “Mom and Dad always made it look easy.”

Jonathan sighed. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I guess they did.”

 

* * *

 

Between their mother’s initial diagnosis, their father’s sudden heart attack six months later, his funeral, various surgeries, the day the doctors told them their mother would not be recovering, her death, and her funeral, most of the calendar had been ruined for the Dumas siblings. In her final weeks, their mother had considered this and asked that the two of them pick one day for mourning and remembering, and that they try and just live their lives for the rest of the year. So now, every year on the weekend closest to their parents’ anniversary, Adele and Jonathan made their way to their parents’ country manor to pay their respects and reminisce for a few days.

They reached the manor as the sun was beginning to set. They walked together, making their way up the hill in the back to a peaceful, isolated spot near the woods, with a stunning view of the country. For a while neither broke the silence, both content to appreciate the surrounding beauty and to gather their thoughts. Finally, Jonathan spoke.

“So...do you want to go first, or can I?” Adele shrugged.

“You can go first. I’m still not sure where to begin.”

“Thanks.” Jonathan stepped forward and took a deep breath. For a few moments, he was silent. Then he grinned and looked at his parents’ joint headstone. “You two,” he said, “are not going to _believe_ what Adele’s been up to.”

 

* * *

 

“Oh my God, Adele,” Jonathan shouted to his sister from the complete opposite side of the house, “get up here, you are not going to believe the picture I found.” Ostensibly, Adele and Jonathan were both going through the manor, making sure nothing needed to be repaired or attended to. In actuality, Adele was doing this singlehandedly, as her brother had become almost immediately distracted by ancient family photo albums. Adele reached the room a few minutes later, too used to this sort of thing to really be annoyed. She took the picture from her brother and immediately turned it over.

“Halloween, 1977,” she read. She turned back to the front. “Is that… is that me in a baby Majestia costume?” she asked, squinting.

“Yeah! I totally forgot about this. Mom must have picked out your outfit that year. Prophetic, huh? I feel like this should be in a museum or something.”

Adele laughed. “I haven’t done anything worth commemorating in a museum-”

“Yet,” her brother interrupted.

“-but yeah, this is pretty great. I’m glad you found it.” She hugged him, and he took the opportunity to grab the photo back. “Hey! Don’t you think maybe that should go to me?”

Jonathan waved her objection away. “Finders keepers,” he said. “I’ll print you a copy.”

 

* * *

 

Around midnight, after Adele had been asleep for about an hour or so, Jonathan quietly left the house and walked back to the gravesite.

“Hey guys,” he said, sitting down in front of the headstone. “It’s me again. Um.” He paused.

By all outward appearances, Jonathan had taken the deaths of his parents relatively well. He’d been nearly twenty-one to Adele’s sixteen, and legally he’d been her guardian for almost two years afterwards. He’d taken the responsibility very seriously, displaying a level of maturity he never had before. Relatives and friends of his parents still commented on it, actually, with the cadence of praise, although it was not exactly a compliment that Jonathan enjoyed receiving. The truth was, privately, he’d taken the loss of his parents extremely hard.

It had not escaped Jonathan’s notice that he’d been lucky to have the parents he’d had, even if it was only for twenty years. For starters, almost every one of his friends had a worse time coming out than he’d had. Oh, his parents hadn't been perfect. Whose were? There had been awkward questions, unintentional offenses, rocky patches. But through it all they’d been loving and accepting. They’d never asked him to change, they'd never asked him to be anything he wasn't.

In fact, in his entire life, they’d only ever really asked him for one thing.

“I know you told me to take care of her,” he started, “and that maybe helping her be a superhero seems like a pretty unorthodox way of doing that. Well, Mom, I’m sure you’re on board. Dad, you’re probably still a little skeptical. But...it’s been _really_ good for her. I wish you could see it. She kind of threw herself into schoolwork when you two died, and shut out most everything else. Now she’s got purpose, she’s opening up to people, she’s having _fun_ again.” He took another deep breath and let it out. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that, even though I don’t have her superpowers… or, well, _any_ superpowers… I’m not sitting anything out. I’m going to be involved, I’m going to be keeping an eye on her, and _nothing_ bad is going to happen to her because of this. I promise.”


	9. Paon Revealed

Adele was in the middle of a chemistry study session in the library one Thursday afternoon in November, after classes had mostly wrapped up for the day. There was a major test next week, and more importantly it was the first study session Adele had actually managed to attend, instead of bailing on last-minute for Butterfly-related business, so of course the tremors started about fifteen minutes in.

“Wait, the book says that these compounds bond with hydrogen ions,” one classmate, Raoul, was asking another, Yvonne, “but I wrote in my notes that the professor was saying protons, which is it?”

“They’re the same th-what is _that_?” All seven of them looked around frantically as the library began shaking violently.

“An earthquake?” a first-year named Thomas suggested.

“In Paris? This strong? It-” the shaking stopped abruptly, then started up again about twenty seconds later. “No, that is not an earthquake,” Raoul said confidently. “Not a real one, anyway.”

“You think it’s supernatural?” Beth asked.

“Well, it isn’t natural, that’s for sure.”

“I have to go,” Adele, who had been silent for this entire discussion, said suddenly. The other six looked at her with varying expressions of annoyance.

“Seriously?” Yvonne asked.

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Adele said apologetically. She probably would have been kicked out of the group weeks ago, except she took the best class notes, which she regularly typed up and e-mailed to everyone else. “It’s just… my dog? He, uh, gets really scared at storms and things like this.”

This instantly won over four of her six classmates, but Yvonne and David were still annoyed. “I didn’t even know you had a dog,” Yvonne said.

“Yeah, he’s… new,” Adele said, shoving all her books and notes into her bag as quickly as she could. “I’ll send you my notes later!” she called over her shoulder as she hurried away.

Once outside, she located the nearest pay phone and called her brother. He answered on the third ring.

“Jonathan Dumas.”

“Hey, Jonathan,” Adele said, her tone an artificial sing-song, “remember that thing that you said would start happening a lot more often in like three or four months?”

“The what?”

“You know, you looked up that _stuff_ at the library, and said that three or four months after superheroes show up, certain kinds of _things_ start happening?”

“Oh, right, right. So?”

“Remember how you said that about, oh, four months ago?”

“... _Oh_. Now?”

“Yep. You've been doing research and stuff, right?”

“Um.”

“Jonathan! You said you’d start doing more research into this kind of thing. You were all excited about it.”

“I mean, a little, sure, but I’m not exactly at the level of subject expert yet.”

“Oh,” Adele said, relieved. “I’m sure you’re fine.” Adele had correctly guessed that “a little” and “not exactly an expert yet” meant that Jonathan had already read at least fifteen books on the subject. “Listen, I don’t think the epicenter of whatever’s happening is very far from my university, so just wait for me in the alley next to that cafe, you know, the one a few blocks from the library? And I’ll figure out what’s going on and where and come find you if I can’t figure out what to do.”

 

* * *

 

The epicenter was surprisingly easy to identify. From the rooftops, Butterfly could see where the tremors were occurring-they seemed to stop suddenly at a certain radius, instead of fading gently over many miles the way natural earthquake tremors did. And there was a distinct circle near the center of the tremors, in which no emotional signatures could be felt, as though an evacuation had occurred. She tried calling Paon, but there was no answer. Wherever he was, he was in his civilian form, and probably still unaware of the developing situation. Hopefully his kwami would alert Paon that Butterfly was trying to reach him, but if Paon was around any other people, Butterfly knew from experience that his kwami would favor staying hidden.

Butterfly made her way towards the epicenter on her own, resigned to dealing with this solo for now. She realized a few blocks away that the building at the center was a small old church, and that she’d been mistaken-there was, in fact, one emotional signature, although it was oddly dazed and muted. Butterfly couldn’t be sure, but she thought it probably belonged to a child, no older than twelve. As she got closer, she began preemptively scanning the nearby crowd for potential Champions. She was fairly certain she’d identified the child’s mother nearby, and was mentally weighing the pros and cons of entering the church alone versus waiting for backup versus simply empowering the mother and sending her in right away, when Paon finally appeared by her side.

“Sorry for the delay,” he said, and Butterfly waved his apology away.

“I can’t tell what’s going on, but somehow some kid in that church is the cause of it,” she told her partner. “If we get in there, maybe we can figure out how.” She gestured a few blocks east. “I asked Jonathan to wait by that cafe over there, just in case he has some insight since this is technically our first supernatural crisis. He’s been reading up.”

“Excellent.” Without further discussion, Paon offered Butterfly his hand and she took it. A moment later, they were standing at the back of the church. To Butterfly’s shock, Paon stumbled a bit upon their reappearance.

“Are you alright?” she asked. She could feel a brief wave of exhaustion from him as well, and it worried her.

“Fine, fine,” he said, sounding slightly out of breath. He shook his head, then looked down the aisle towards a small figure facing away from them and standing at the front of the church. “Now what?” Before Butterfly could answer, a violent tremor began, far more powerful here than it had been back at the library, or even a block away.

Butterfly grabbed the back of a pew to steady herself, and focused her powers. The person at the front of the church was definitely a child, a little girl, and definitely out of it, mentally speaking. “She’s… I can’t tell, under a spell or something?” Butterfly found herself whispering, even though there were no churchgoers around to disturb. “She’s not all there, that’s for sure.”

“Do we have any way to-” Before Paon could finish his question, the little girl turned suddenly to look right at them. Her eyes were glowing slightly red, matching an amulet hanging around her neck. Looking right at the two heroes, she tilted her head slightly. For a moment, Butterfly and Paon were both stunned. Another violent tremor shook them, literally, out of their trance.

“Okay,” Butterfly whispered slowly, “I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that getting that necklace off of her is our best bet here.”

“Leave it to me,” Paon said. A second later, he’d used his invisibility spell and vanished. Butterfly kept her eye on the girl, fully expecting to see the necklace vanish off her person in the next two seconds. Instead the girl held up a hand and something unseen went crashing through the middles of about five pews before stopping. Paon reappeared in the middle of the wreckage shortly after, and Butterfly ran quickly to his side.

“What the hell happened?” she asked, helping her partner up. Butterfly looked back at the girl, but she seemed content to watch them so long as they kept their distance.

“I don’t know,” Paon said, breathing heavily. “I think… I think somehow she’s interfering with my teleportation, it’s usually effortless but I feel-” He was cut off by yet another tremor.

“In that case, stop teleporting,” Butterfly said. “We’ll figure out how to stop her without that ability. I’ll just get her mother to-” Another tremor, the most violent one yet, shook them both. Paon’s eyes widened as he looked behind Butterfly, and before she could ask him what was wrong or even react at all, he’d grabbed her hand and transported them both to the other side of the building. Butterfly looked at where they’d been just in time to see a large marble statue come crashing down right where she’d been standing. She looked back at Paon, and it was evident that whatever was interfering with his abilities was now causing him outright pain. “I told you not to _do_ that!” she yelled at him.

“You did,” he agreed, his breathing shallow.

“Just _sit down_ and let me handle this.” Butterfly turned back to the girl, who was still watching them silently. “All right. She doesn’t seem to be attacking, so I should have enough time to give her mother the ability to-oh, come _on_!” Butterfly quickly threw her cane up, wielding it almost like a bat, and hit a giant flying piece of marble away before it could crash into her and Paon. Unfazed, the girl held up her index fingers and swept them, one after the other, towards Butterfly. The first hunk of marble was joined by a second, and they both came rushing at her and Paon. Butterfly just narrowly managed to block them. “Okay. _Fine_. New plan. I hold off the flying pieces of marble until you’re feeling better-” she batted the two hunks of marble away yet again, “and can cover my retreat, how does that sound?” The little girl sent the marble pieces flying at her yet again, and this time she only managed to block one. The second she tried to dodge, but its jagged edge grazed her arm. “Ow!”

“We do not have time for that plan,” Paon said. “We need to get out of here _now_.”

“And how do you suggest we-” Before Butterfly could finish her question, Paon had grabbed her elbow and the next thing she knew she was blinking in the much brighter light of the outdoors. It took Butterfly a moment to orient herself, and realize that Paon had transported them both several blocks away, to the alley where Jonathan was waiting for them.

“What the hell?” he asked, pushing himself off the wall he’d been leaning on and hurrying over. Butterfly looked down and saw Paon collapsed on the ground.

“What were you _thinking_?” she yelled at him, kneeling by his side.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “Had to get you out of there.” He closed his eyes, and Butterfly looked up at her brother, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Can you get him out of here?” she asked. “I… I think I can take care of the crisis on my own, but I can’t leave him here like this.”

“Of course,” Jonathan said. “I don’t know if I can get him into the car without hurting him, though.” In response, Butterfly scooped Paon up as though he weighed next to nothing. “Oh, right, super-strength.” Her brother opened the passenger-side door, and Butterfly placed her partner into the car.

“Don’t you _dare_ try transporting again until you’re _completely_ recovered, do you understand me?” she said, and Paon nodded weakly. She shut the door, and looked over the top of the car at Jonathan.

“Wait,” Butterfly said, stopping him from getting in the car and driving off. “Do you know how to disable an amulet?”

“What kind?”

Butterfly rolled her eyes. “The kind that causes _earthquakes_ , Jonathan, did you think I was asking for fun?”

“There are like a million different kinds! Your question could not be vaguer. Is it powered by runes, or some kind of infusion, or-”

“No idea. It’s causing earthquakes, some little girl is wearing it, she’s _really_ out of it, it’s making her eyes glow red and giving her telekinesis. That’s everything I know about it.”

“Well, what does it look like?”

“I don't know, old? Big red stone in the middle?”

“Translucent or opaque?”

Butterfly took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Jonathan. I am really, _really_ going to need some kind of Gordian Knot solution in the next ten seconds, okay?”

“Fine.” He thought for a second. “Just break the stone,” he said, “that should at least make it weak enough that it releases the girl-”

“ _Thank_ you,” Butterfly said, starting to head back to the church.

“-unless, of course, there's something conscious inside that's powering it, in which case breaking the stone would be _really_ bad.”

“Conscious?”

“Yeah, like a demon, or-”

“There are _demons_?”

“Kind of, yeah. They're pretty rare on this plane of existence, but-”

“Why wouldn't you mention something like that before now?”

Jonathan glared at her. “You said, and I quote, ‘Jonathan, I have absolutely no interest in listening to a boring lecture every time you go to the library, just tell me things as they become relevant,’ so that's what I've been doing.”

Butterfly pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay, when this is all over, we are having a discussion that A, covers the definition of the word ‘boring’ and B, brings me up to speed on a few minor things like the _basic structure of reality_. For now, just tell me how to tell if the amulet has a demon in it or not.”

“Well, if she's talking to it, that's a pretty dead giveaway. Or if you can sense any emotions coming directly from it.”

“And if there is a demon, how do I stop it?”

Jonathan shrugged. “No idea.”

Butterfly groaned. “Okay, just… just get Paon out of here. I’ll figure it out. Thanks anyway.” Before Jonathan could say another word, she'd leapt onto the roof of the cafe and started to make her way back to the church. Jonathan got in, slammed the door shut, put the car in gear and drove off, muttering under his breath.

“Thanks _anyway_? Yeah, you're welcome for telling you how to do your _job_ , with basically _no_ warning or prep time whatsoever. _Ugh_. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Butterfly, but sometimes I just wanna strangle her, you know?”

“I do not,” Paon replied weakly. Jonathan glanced over at him.

“You look _terrible_ ,” he said lightly.

“Thanks.”

“I thought you guys were invincible? If this is what invincible looks like, I gotta say I am severely underwhelmed.”

“There are, evidently, limits,” Paon said, wincing and grabbing his left side. “The magic of my transformation was exhausted, I think. There was some field interfering with my teleportation. I should be fine after recharging. You don't happen to have any food in here, do you?”

Jonathan glanced around the car, then reached in the back and grabbed a large stuffed plastic bag. “Just all this Halloween candy I stole from a party I crashed two weeks ago,” he said apologetically.

“Perfect,” Paon said.

“Oh, really? I don't know why, but you don't strike me as someone who likes candy.”

“I don't. It's not for me.”

Jonathan frowned. “Who’s it for?”

“You’ll meet her.” Paon glanced down at his Miraculous and sighed. “Well, it's been fun, having a secret identity around you, but I suppose all good things must come to an end.”

“What are you talking ab-” Jonathan was cut off by a small flash of light. The next thing he knew, something small and fast was flying around his field of vision.

“Omigosh I am _sooooo_ excited to finally meet you!” it yelled in his face.

“What the-” Instinctively, Jonathan waved a hand in front of his face, trying to keep his eyes on the road.

“You don't know how _frustrating_ it's been, not being able to talk to you whenever you're around! I'm _such_ a fan, I love it when civilians help us out, I don't know why the Guardian’s so set against it. You're the first in over fifty years, and probably the most helpful in centuries!”

“You’re, ah,” Jonathan had swerved dangerously close to the oncoming lane of traffic, and was trying to focus on straightening out, so he didn’t immediately absorb everything he heard, “you’re the peacock kwami, then?”

“I'm Rajji!” she introduced herself brightly.

“Rajji,” Gabriel said calmly, ripping the bag of Halloween candy open, “do you maybe want to let Jonathan get back to driving the car and eat something, so we can return and help Butterfly?”

Rajji gasped. “Skittles!” She flew away from Jonathan's face and dove into the bag.

“Thanks, man,” Jonathan said, “that was a little…” He trailed off as realization struck him. “ _Gabriel_?”

“Surprise,” Gabriel said, completely deadpan.

“I… I…”

“Watch the road,” Gabriel added, annoyed.

“Sorry, it's just… wow. You are, like, the _last_ guy in Paris that I would’ve expected to be Paon.” Jonathan stole another glance at his friend. “Although now that I think of it, you look basically the same in costume. Why didn't I ever see that?”

“Glamour. Didn't you go through this already with Butterfly?”

“Not really, I never saw her as a superhero before she told me. She did mention the glamour, but I guess I didn't really buy it.”

“It's very powerful.”

“You have no idea,” Jonathan said. “You know when I saw you sitting right there, my first thought wasn't ‘Oh my God, Gabe is Paon,’ it was ‘How did Gabriel Agreste get in my car?’”

Gabriel laughed, then winced. “I hope Rajji’s ready to go soon,” he said, “this is still pretty excruciating out of transformation.”

Jonathan glanced at the rustling bag of candy. “Rajji’s…energetic, huh?”

“That is an understatement.” Gabriel glanced at Jonathan. “She’s usually worse, actually, but I think the fight exhausted her as well. Why, is Butterfly’s kwami different?”

“Nooroo? Yeah, completely. He's super chill.”

“A chill kwami. Imagine that,” Gabriel said, a touch jealously. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Do you, ah, have any questions or anything?” he asked.

“Yeah, probably. Um…” Jonathan paused, keeping his eyes on the road as he tried to figure out what to say next. There was a lot he’d _like_ to say, but almost all of it involved outing Adele. “I flirted with you, dude,” was what he finally settled on.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Mm hmm.”

“Kind of a lot.”

“Mm.”

“You flirted _back_.”

It was a testament to how beaten up Gabriel was that he didn't even try to deny this. “A little,” he agreed.

“But what about-”

“Jonathan,” Gabriel interrupted, “I'm not sure I can explain this to you properly, because as far as I know you’ve always been, well, _you_.”

Jonathan considered this. “Minus an awkward year or two around age twelve, yeah.”

“Right. Well, I've always been me. And to spend your entire life being Gabriel Agreste and then to suddenly go to being... _that_ , it's very disorienting. I'm not saying it wasn't really me, but it went to my head a little. More than a little, maybe. I'm sorry if you feel embarrassed.”

“Nah,” Jonathan said, “it's cool, I get it.”

“And admittedly,” Gabriel added, “I may have been getting a _little_ satisfaction out of it, on a personal level.”

Jonathan grinned. “Because I broke your heart all those years ago and you never really got over me?” he asked eagerly. Gabriel rolled his eyes and looked out the car window.

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to be okay with all this, I suppose,” he replied.

“Are you kidding? I'm psyched, this is awesome. Two superheroes in Paris, and I know _both_ of them? God, just when I thought I couldn't get cooler…”

“And you're sure it doesn't change the way you feel about me and Adele?”

“You and Adele? Why would…”Jonathan trailed off, the full extent of Gabriel and Adele’s situation finally beginning to dawn on him.

“I mean, I would understand if you didn't want me to keep pursuing her, it's very possible my affections for her would make her some kind of target in the future.”

“Uh.”

“And of course, she might not be happy about my relationship with Butterfly.”

“Uh.”

“It can get rather… intimate, us saving each other's lives constantly and so on.”

“Uh.”

“I mean, I'd be lying if I said I _never_ thought about Butterfly like that, but that's just the heat of battle, right? Butterfly is wonderful-she’s everything I could have asked for in a partner-but she’s not _Adele_.”

“Oh my _God_ this is going to be so _annoying_ ,” Jonathan muttered under his breath.

“Hm?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Jonathan said, shaking his head as though to clear it. “No, I am still 100% on board with you and Adele.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Gabriel said, “although to be honest, I’m not sure I am. Not that my affections have changed, but I’m just not at all certain the possible risks don’t outweigh any potential-”

“Ready!” Rajji interrupted, flying out of the bag and up to Gabriel’s eye level. Jonathan glanced down and noticed that the giant bag of candy was now roughly half empty wrappers.

“Excellent.” Gabriel took a deep breath, eyes closed. “Rajji, feathers out!”

There was another flash, longer and brighter than the last. When Jonathan could see him again, his friend had transformed back into the hero Paon. “Feeling better?” he asked.

“Remarkably,” Paon replied. “I wonder if this works for mundane injuries as well?”

“Well, let’s hope we never have to find out,” Jonathan said wryly, and Paon smiled.

“Jonathan,” he said, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “I just want to-well. Now that you know, I just want to thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“What, chauffeuring you two superheroes around? Don’t sweat it.”

“It’s more than that, and you know it. And now that you actually know who’s saying it, I’m saying thank you.” He sighed. “I’m sure Butterfly can handle herself, but I’d better get back there just in case. We’ll talk more later.” Paon vanished, and Jonathan was left alone, driving through Paris. He thought for a while, about his sister and his friend and their various secret identities, about all the things they knew and thought they knew, trying to get it all straight in his head.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered to himself.


	10. Getting the Stories Straight

“I can’t believe I had to find out my baby sister is getting her own statue by reading a _newspaper_ ,” Jonathan said by way of greeting, holding up the paper as he entered Adele’s apartment a few days later. Adele groaned and grabbed the paper from her brother, skimming it quickly.

“Jesus,” she said, “I’d hoped it was just a rumor.”

“You’re not psyched?”

“It’s in very poor taste, don’t you think?” Adele tossed the paper down on her table and began pacing around her apartment. “That poor little girl is still in the hospital, and who knows how much therapy she’s going to need once she gets out.”

“Adele, she has a pulse, she’s breathing, she’s expected to make a full recovery,” Jonathan pointed out. “Probably none of those things would be true if this had happened a year ago. That kid’s mother will be thanking God for the rest of her life that you gave her the power to save her baby girl. It’s okay to celebrate that. You can’t blame people for being happy.”

“They’re happy now,” Adele said, “because they think this is still a once-a-year-or-less kind of event. How’s the city going to feel when something else like this happens _next month_?”

“As long as the death toll stays at zero, I’d say the city’s still coming out way ahead, wouldn’t you?”

Adele frowned. “I don’t know that it will,” she said softly. “This time was… it was terrifying, Jonathan. It was nothing like dealing with ordinary criminals or accidents or natural disasters. We barely made it out of there.”

“But you did, and more importantly you made it back. You’ll get better at this kind of thing, we’ll get more experienced, I’ll learn more stuff that could help. This _will_ get easier. Besides, the odds of another disaster interfering directly with your quantum-”

“Quantic,” Adele corrected reflexively.

“Quantic, thank you, your quantic magic, are very low. Most kinds of magic don’t interact with your particular brand at all, as far as I can tell. That’s accurate, isn’t it Nooroo?”

“It is,” Nooroo said, flying over from Adele’s shoulder to hover in front of Jonathan. “I’m not even sure it was interfering with general quantic magic. Adele was completely unaffected, after all.”

“You think, what, Rajji was just allergic to it or something?”

“It’s rare, but it wouldn’t be the first time. The Guardian will be able to tell. At any rate, it is unlikely to occur again.”

Adele frowned. “Who’s Rajji?” she asked.

“You know, she’s-oh, that’s right, you haven’t met her yet. She’s Paon’s kwami.”

“When did you…” Adele trailed off, thinking hard. A moment later, she covered her mouth with her hand, shocked. “He _used his invisibility_! Oh, God, I was just so scared, I completely forgot, but you _saw_ him, didn’t you? As a civilian?”

“Sure did. He didn’t mention it to you?” Adele shook her head, then grabbed her brother’s hand and dragged him over to her couch. She pulled him down and looked him right in the eye. “You have to tell me everything,” she said, excited. “Well-okay, not everything, I guess, but-”

“I thought you wanted me to come over so I could explain the basic structure of reality?” Adele waved her hand impatiently.

“Obviously that can wait. What does he look like?”

“Adele, he looks _exactly the same_ , just like you do when you’re Butterfly. I mean, without the colorful accents in his hair, obviously, and maybe his eyes are a different shade of blue? But basically exactly the same. I have to say, I didn't buy all that stuff you said about glamors and identity protection but _wow_ , it really really works.”

Adele frowned. “So, wait, he’s someone you already knew?”

“Oh. Whoops.”

Adele’s eyes widened with excitement. “So how do you know him?” she asked. “School? The theater? Friend of a friend of a friend? Ex-boyfriend?” Jonathan, being a professional actor, was perfectly capable of maintaining level eye contact and keeping his expression blank during this interrogation, but unfortunately for him his sister’s abilities made her the magical equivalent of a human lie detector. “Oh my _God_ ,” she cried, “you’ve already dated him?”

“No! No, I haven’t,” her brother said defensively. “Nothing happened, we went on like half a date once a million years ago, I left in a huff halfway through the entree, happy?”

Adele narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “That is the _exact_ same story you told me about your date with Gabriel Agreste back in college.”

“...Is it?” Now Jonathan _did_ break eye contact.

Adele folded her arms. “So, what, is that just your go-to version of events now for when you don't want to tell me what _really_ happened?” she guessed.

Jonathan stared at her, momentarily flabbergasted. “You caught me,” he finally said.

 

* * *

 

A day later, Gabriel Agreste was in the middle of a long-overdue review of his junior designers’ most recent submissions when there was a knock at his apartment door.

“Sorry I didn't call ahead,” Jonathan said apologetically when Gabriel opened the door, “but it's an emergency.”

Gabriel’s face fell. “An emergency? Is it Butterfly? Is she-”

“Shh!” Jonathan glanced down the hall, making sure no one was around to overhear them. “Chill, Gabe. Jesus, I can't believe you managed to keep your identity a secret for as long as you did. It's a fashion emergency. You are not going to believe what the new costume designer has me wearing.”

Gabriel stared at him incredulously for a moment, then quickly ushered Jonathan into his apartment and shut the door. “Are you serious?” he asked. “Jonathan… you are the only other person in the world who knows that I am effectively working two jobs right now. Both, in their own way, _very_ demanding jobs. You of all people should not be coming to me with unnecessary requests for unpaid…” he trailed off as Jonathan wordlessly pulled the costume out of his bag and held it up. Gabriel stared at it for a full minute. “I take it all back,” he finally said. “You were completely right to bring that to me.”

“ _Thank_ you. Can you fix it?”

“I think so. It shouldn't take long, either, if you don't mind hanging around for an hour or so.”

“Yeah, I've got nothing better to do,” Jonathan said, tossing the outfit to Gabriel and heading for his couch. “Oh, where’s Rajji? I brought her something.” He pulled a candy bar out of his bag. A second later, something blue and fast and very high-pitched flew across the room, grabbed the candy bar, spun around with it a few times, and then hugged Jonathan’s nose. “A present! A present! I haven't gotten a present in over a hundred years!”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow, annoyed. “I buy you candy all the time,” he said. “I buy you so much candy I've had to make room for it in my monthly budget.”

“Oh, it doesn't count as a present if _you_ buy it,” Rajji said. She tore the wrapper off and started eating happily.

“She's got a point,” Jonathan said. “I mean, _I_ don't get any superpowers in return for giving her candy. I just do it anyway because I'm genuinely a really good person.” Gabriel rolled his eyes and made his way to the workspace at the back of his apartment without another word. Jonathan followed, grabbing a chair on his way.

“Do you need something?”

“Oh, I just figured, since I'm here anyway, and you did say we’d talk later about it-I mean, look, I've already got 90% of the story from Butterfly anyway. Where your powers come from, how they work, all that. But I'm still pretty curious about how _you_ got recruited.”

Gabriel laid the costume out on his table, sat down, and began gathering supplies. He grabbed a tool and started calmly ripping the stitches out of one of the more offensive pieces of lace near the hem. “Because I am, as you put it, the _last_ man in Paris you expected to be a superhero?” he asked, not looking up.

“I didn’t mean it like-Gabe, are you _offended_? I didn't know you even got offended, I'm sorry. Well, I guess there was that one time our third year when that teacher’s aide said your designs were derivative of Rykiel, but other than that-”

“I am not offended,” Gabriel said calmly, still focusing on his work. “I must confess, the thought had occurred to me as well. I did not spend my childhood reading comic books or idly fantasizing about being a superhero, as other children did.” He looked up at Jonathan. “This surprises you?”

“Not at all, I'm just getting over the shock of finding out you were once a child.”

“Hilarious. In any case, I have no idea why I was chosen. It was rather sudden-the Guardian showed up at my door, shoved a small box in my hands, and instructed me to help Butterfly save Percy Ortoli. He did say he'd had his eye on me for several weeks, but as to why I cannot say.”

“Hmm.” Jonathan considered this silently for a while. Something about it seemed to bother him, but Gabriel didn't notice and the moment passed. “Well, I'll let you focus,” Jonathan finally said, getting up and crossing the room to a small couch. He grabbed his bag and pulled out a script. Rajji flew over, curious.

“What's that?”

“This is for the next play I'm going to be in-it has all the lines I need to memorize, and everyone else’s lines, the stage directions, that kind of thing.”

“Oh!” Rajji clapped, excited. “I liked that one you were in before-oh, but it was so sad at the end-and we missed the middle, maybe that was sad, too…”

“You missed the middle, too? Oh, right, I guess you were there the same night as A-as Butterfly, I’d completely forgotten.”

Gabriel looked up. “Butterfly was there that night as well?”

“Yeah, well, it was my first night in a major role, most of the people who wanted to see me came then.”

“Ah.” Gabriel. He turned back to his work for a moment. “So...speaking of Butterfly,” Gabriel said with a poorly-feigned casualness, “she must be a very close friend to have intentionally revealed her secret identity to you.”

Jonathan groaned. “Dude, don't,” he said.

“Of course, you make close friends more easily than the rest of us, so that doesn't exactly help narrow it down,” Gabriel continued.

“Seriously, cut it out. I'm not telling you who she is.”

“At first I thought she must be one of your fellow actors, one of those girls that's always falling for you despite knowing better, but I ruled that possibility out early on, and I'm afraid I'm still at a loss for new theories.”

“That is not _always_ happening,” Jonathan said defensively, “it was like twice in college. Three times. Well, definitely not more than four.”

“You must be dying to tell me who she is, knowing you.”

“You have no idea,” Jonathan said, “but I'm still not doing it. I don't have a ton of principles, Gabe, but one of my oldest ones is a strict No Outing Anyone policy. Now, when I adopted it I admittedly never in a million years dreamed I'd one day have to apply it to superheroes and their secret identities, but the principle stands nonetheless. Of course,” he continued, “if you give me permission to tell Butterfly who _you_ are, I will happily do it. Like, this second. And she’d probably reciprocate immediately, and we could all move on with our lives. Nothing, _nothing_ would make me happier. Please give me permission to do this. Look, I'm already picking up your phone.”

Gabriel sighed. “No, you’re right, I should stop trying to find out who she is, and just accept that we can't know for now.”

“That is the exact opposite of my point,” Jonathan said, hanging the phone back up. He glanced around the mostly bare apartment. “God, this place is Spartan,” he complained, getting up to idly snoop around. “Ooh, sketches.” He opened the portfolio he'd found and Gabriel looked up from his work, suddenly anxious.

“Put that _down_ ,” he said.

“Too late, already- _woah_.” Jonathan stared at the first drawing. “This is a _really_ good sketch of Adele. And… hey look, another really good sketch of Adele. And another one. Impressive. Creepy, obviously, but impressive all the same.”

“First of all,” Gabriel said, getting up from his work station and walking over, “you know perfectly well that I'm designing her dress for the winter gala. Those are _concept_ sketches, there is nothing creepy about having them.”

Jonathan scoffed. “These are like ten times more detailed than your usual-”

“And _second_ of all,” Gabriel interrupted, grabbing the third sketch Jonathan had held up, of Adele in some kind of purple masquerade gown, “ _this_ one isn't even your sister, it's Butterfly, for the superhero line the company’s putting together. Although,” he continued, “now that you mention it, they do look a little bit alike, don't they? It's kind of funny, actually.”

Jonathan looked back and forth between the two basically identical sketches for a moment. “Hilarious,” he said. He glanced over at Rajji, who was pointedly avoiding his gaze. “I don’t suppose you have anything to drink in this place, do you?” he asked Gabriel. “I could really use a drink all of a sudden.”

 

* * *

 

A week later, Jonathan was at home running lines when he received a call in the early evening.

“Jonathan?” his sister’s voice asked. “I need a super quick favor.” There was a lot of ambient city noise, sirens, and wind, and it was somewhat difficult to understand her.

“Are you outside somewhere?”

“Look, I was supposed to meet Gabriel Agreste for a fitting for that ballgown thing, but there’s a hostage situation downtown I need to take care of. I don’t have time to think of a good excuse, could you come up with something and call him for me?”

“Sure,” her brother said, continuing to flip through his script, “don’t worry about it for another second.”

“A _good_ excuse, Jonathan, not something obviously fake or incredibly embarrassing because you think it’s funny or something.”

“I said I’d do it, jeez.”

“And don’t put it off, I’m supposed to be meeting him in less than half an hour.”

“Adele, go take care of your superhero business. I promise I’ll do it.”

“Okay-sorry, thanks, you’re a lifesaver.” They hung up, and Jonathan went back to reading through his lines, making no motion whatsoever to pick his phone back up.

Five minutes later, his phone rang again.

“Hey, Gabe,” Jonathan said as he answered.

“How did you-never mind. I’m supposed to be meeting your sister in twenty minutes, but there’s an urgent matter I need to attend to-”

“And you want me to call Adele and give her a really good excuse for flaking at the last-minute? Consider it done.”

“Oh. Well, yes, thank you, that is incredibly helpful.”

“Don’t worry about it, it is literally no trouble whatsoever.” Jonathan hung the phone back up again, opened his script, and sighed deeply.


	11. The Other Side of the Dynamic

“Ugh, I’m glad that’s over with,” Adele said to her brother as they left the bank, walking down the sidewalk together, after their annual meeting in December with their parents’ financial advisor.

“Yeah,” Jonathan said sarcastically, “it’s such a drag, having to hear about how incredibly wealthy we are. I’m glad we only have to do this once a year.”

“It doesn’t bother you?” Adele asked. “You don’t find it morbid, going in, hearing about all this money we didn’t do a thing to earn, that we only have because Mom and Dad died?”

“No, it does not,” Jonathan said firmly. “Knowing that we’d be set for life brought Mom a _ton_ of peace of mind near the end. She didn’t want us to feel bad about it. And I can’t tell you what a relief it was to me personally, back when I was officially responsible for you, to know that even if I had a million other things to worry about, money was never going to be an issue.”

“Well… okay,” Adele said, “I guess that’s-ow!” Adele took a step back suddenly, rubbing her face as she did so.

“What the hell was that?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t know, it felt like I walked into a wall.”

Frowning, Jonathan reached his hand out slowly. About a foot in front of Adele, he felt something. “Uh… that’s not good.” He pressed his hand against the invisible barrier, but it didn’t budge.

“Jonathan,” Adele said, “is it just me, or did the street suddenly get very quiet?” They both listened for a moment. “Yeah,” Adele continued, “I can’t hear the cars, or anybody other than you at all.”

Jonathan immediately began to run his hand along the barrier, and it was quickly apparent that it began to curve back in on itself. Jonathan was forced to walk in a circle, and back where he started in about 10 meters. “I think we’re trapped,” he said. In response, Adele bent down, picked up a pebble, and threw it up. About five meters up, it hit something and came back down rapidly.

“Yep,” she agreed. “We’re trapped.” She pressed a hand against the barrier and waved the other at a pedestrian. Frowning, the pedestrian said something to her. “I can’t hear you!” Adele shouted, and the pedestrian gestured to his ear, indicating that he couldn’t hear her, either. Adele pulled a notepad and pen out of her purse, wrote “WE’RE STUCK” on it, and held it up. At this point, more than one person passing by had accidentally walked into the barrier, and the two of them were starting to draw a crowd. One woman wrote something down on her own notepad, then held it up: “NOT JUST YOU-WE’RE LOOKING INTO IT”. The woman gestured down the street, and Adele could just make out a similar sight about five blocks away.

“Wow,” Jonathan said. “I wonder how many of these there are?”

“What do you think the odds are that something terrible is about to happen?” Adele asked. “I’d rather not transform with all these people watching, but if something’s about to attack-”

“Eh, I’d hold off,” Jonathan said. “It doesn’t take you that long to transform, and this doesn’t exactly seem threatening, just… weird.” Jonathan knocked a fist against the barrier again. “If this is the next supernatural crisis, I’d say we lucked out,” he continued. “I mean, compared to the last one, this is pretty tame.”

About twenty minutes later, someone in the crowd around the barrier finally held up a note explaining what was going on. Apparently, some local aspiring sorcerer had for the past few months been petitioning the government for clearance to set up a magical security field over all of Paris, which might be activated in the event of a citywide crisis. His request had been consistently rejected by officials, who felt he had neither the power nor the experience necessary to pull such a spell off. This morning, he’d decided to prove them all wrong by activating the spell without clearance. Instead, he’d proven them all quite correct. Police estimated there were about a thousand protection barriers all over the city, and they were currently working with the sorcerer on a way to disable the spell.

Adele held up a note in response: “HOW LONG BEFORE IT’S FIXED?”

“ABOUT FIVE HOURS?” was the reply. Adele’s eyes widened in disbelief, and her sympathetic informant quickly wrote another note: “MAYBE BUTTERFLY AND PAON WILL FIX IT SOONER?” Adele sighed.

“Of course,” she said. “Butterfly will save us. Why didn’t I think of that?” She groaned.

“Here’s an idea,” Jonathan said. “Let’s call Paon and have him bust us out.”

“I can’t call him if I can’t transform,” Adele pointed out, and Jonathan grinned.

“Once again, it’s up to me to fix everything,” he said, pulling something out of his bag. Adele stared.

“Is that a _cell phone_?” she asked.

“Yep. Picked it up a few days ago. This is a game changer, Adele.”

“What are you, a businessman all of a sudden?”

“No, I am someone who is frequently asked to drop everything and drive halfway across the city to be on-call for various supernatural crises. _Now_ you can just call me wherever I am for, you know, advice and stuff. You should get one, too, it would be way better than that stupid pager you have.”

“I don’t know, aren’t they kind of...kind of a fad?”

“This fad is about to be _very_ helpful, once I call Paon and he gets us out of here before you can count to ten.”

Adele sighed. “True,” she admitted. Jonathan started to dial a number, and Adele grabbed his arm. “Wait,” she said.

“What?”

Adele paused, thinking. “You can’t… you can’t just call him with me here.”

Jonathan frowned. “Why not?”

“Because, he can’t know that I know that you know who he is.”

“...what.”

“Think about it. If he sees that you’re willing to call him in front of me, that tells him that I know that you know who he is-and since you wouldn’t tell anyone, he’ll figure out that I’m Butterfly.”

“Jesus, Adele, don’t you think maybe it’s time he just knows you’re Butterfly? This is kind of an emergency.”

“No, it isn’t, it’s just inconvenient. Look, I already broke one major rule by telling you everything-”

“And look at what a disaster _that’s_ been for everyone,” Jonathan interrupted sarcastically.

“-so I'm not breaking _another_ one, no matter how annoying you might find it.” Adele took a deep breath. “It's fine, we can think this through. You’ll just...” she snapped. “I’ve got it. You’ll just pretend you’re calling someone else.”

Jonathan looked like he wanted to strangle something. “You want me to call Paon,” he repeated, “and pretend I’m calling someone else.”

“Yeah.”

“You want me to pretend that I'm _pretending_ to just call a random friend or something. And that I'm trying to sneakily convey a message that you can't pick up on. Like a spy or something. You see how stupid this is, right? On some level, you must appreciate that.”

“Oh, just do it.”

Shaking his head, Jonathan pulled his cell phone out and dialed a number. “Hey, _buddy_ ,” he said a moment later, glaring pointedly at Adele and maintaining eye contact throughout the conversation.

“Jonathan?” Gabriel asked at the other end of the line. “Is something the matter?”

“Ha, yeah, I don't know if you’ve seen the news yet, but weird force fields appeared suddenly all over Paris about half an hour ago, and I'm trapped inside of one with my _sister_ , outside the bank downtown, so I think we’re going to have to reschedule those plans we had to meet up later, unless, I don't know, someone _miraculously_ shows up to rescue us soon.”

“Good Lord, Jonathan, tone it down, I get the message. Aren't you a professional actor? Shouldn't you be a _little_ better at faking a conversation? Your sister isn't an idiot, you know.”

“Yeah, totally,” Jonathan replied, his tone still overly fake.

“Well, obviously I can't show up right away, or Adele will figure out what’s going on. I suppose I’ll just have to start freeing other people with Butterfly for a while, to divert suspicion. An hour should do it.”

“ _What_?”

“Maybe if you’d been a little more convincing half an hour would have sufficed, but as it is I really think it's important to establish-”

“ _Fine_. See you whenever, _bye_.” Jonathan hung up, then glared at Adele. “Well, Paon won't be coming for another hour, he’s worried you’ll figure out I called him if he shows up earlier.”

“Oh. Well, that makes sense.”

“I loathe you both to the depths of my being, you know that?”

Adele rolled her eyes. “Maybe in an hour you’ll have finished sulking,” she said.

“Adele?” Nooroo called from inside her purse. “Paon’s trying to reach you.

Adele sighed. “Yes, I'm sure he is.”

 

* * *

 

“How surprised should I be?” Adele asked fifty-eight minutes later. She and Jonathan were both sitting on the sidewalk at this point, on opposite sides of the bubble and leaning against the invisible barrier. “Should I go full star-struck or, you know, play it cool? Or pretend that I'm trying to play it cool and fail?”

“This is hell,” Jonathan said to no one in particular. “I got hit by a bus crossing the street or something, and now I'm stuck in my own personal purgatory.”

“I'm just asking, how would an ordinary, non-magical Adele Dumas react to being rescued by a superhero? I mean some people _really_ flip out when they meet us but some people just could not care less. It’s a very wide spectrum.”

“If I have to listen to another thirty seconds of this convoluted madness, I'm going to-oh thank God, _finally_ ,” Jonathan said as Paon appeared.

“Paon!” Adele exclaimed, probably a little too enthusiastically. He looked down at her sitting on the sidewalk and flashed her a grin.

“Allow me,” he said, offering her a hand. Adele placed her hand on his, and Paon pulled her to her feet as though she weighed nothing. Adele had never realized how _strong_ Paon was.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jonathan said sarcastically as he stood, “I’ll just help myself up.”

Paon glanced back at him, then put his other hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “Brace yourselves,” he said, and a moment later they were standing further down the sidewalk, outside of the barrier and past the small crowd that had gathered around it. A cheer went up, and Adele and Paon smiled at each other.

“I can’t tell you what an _honor_ it is to meet you, Paon,” Adele said, putting a hand to her chest. Behind Paon, Jonathan rolled his eyes.

“Believe me,” Paon replied, “it is my honor, to have the opportunity to rescue a lady of Paris such as yourself.” He was still holding her other hand, and now he raised it and bent down to kiss the back of it gently. He straightened and grinned at her again.

“Oh!” Adele went up on her toes impulsively and kissed Paon’s cheek in response-this was something she’d seen other civilians do, so she figured she could get away with it, although if she was being honest it was not entirely an act.

Paon looked at her, startled, for a moment. Then he bowed and disappeared.

“That was nauseating,” her brother informed her after a pause. Adele punched his arm lightly in response.

“Goodness, being on the other side of the civilian/superhero dynamic is _weird_ ,” she said. “And is it just me, or is Paon even more of a flirt when Butterfly isn’t around?”

“Shouldn’t you be rushing off?” Jonathan asked. “You know, so you can get back to the correct side of the civilian/superhero dynamic and help Paon fix everything?”

“I can’t transform _now_ ,” Adele said, as though this was obvious. “Paon’s been trying to reach me for an hour. If I suddenly show up, right after he rescued Adele Dumas-”

“Oh my _God_ , Adele.”

“Then he’ll figure out that I’m-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Jonathan interrupted. “Forget I said anything.” He sighed, shaking his head. “You know, all this effort is wasted. I’m ninety-nine percent sure at this point that neither of you is capable of ever figuring out _anything_.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, have you guys seen Adele?” Jonathan asked, poking his head in the models’ break room a week later. “I was visiting Charlie over in Design and thought I’d stop by and say hi, but she’s not-oh, good Lord.” Jonathan had caught sight of his sister. She was sitting on the couch, looking at a newspaper, and openly weeping. Elise was sitting next to her with her arm wrapped around Adele’s shoulders, while Claire was handing her a box of tissues.

“Oh, hi Jonathan,” Adele said, sniffing and grabbing three tissues.

“What is it?” Jonathan asked wearily, leaning against the doorframe. “A story about a three-legged shelter dog looking for a home by Christmas or something?”

“No it is not,” Adele said defensively, her tears finally starting to abate. “It’s-oh, here, just look.” She shoved the paper towards him. Jonathan skimmed the article in question, then looked up.

“Paon visited some sick kids in the hospital? _That’s_ why you’re crying?”

Adele blew her nose loudly. “He surprised the entire children’s ward-and one of the kids was a huge Paon fan about to go in for major surgery. Look, there’s a picture of the two of them. Isn’t it just the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard in your life?”

“It certainly is.” He glanced at Adele, then looked back at the paper. “I wonder why Butterfly didn’t join him?”

Adele glared at her brother. “Maybe she didn’t know about it, Jonathan. Maybe Paon just did it on his own without telling anybody because he wasn’t looking for attention or recognition, he was just trying to do something nice for its own sake, hmm?”

“Yeah, guess so.” Jonathan glanced down the hall, then grinned. “Look who it is. Hey, Gabe!” Jonathan waved, and a few moments later Gabriel Agreste appeared in the doorway.

“Yes? I don’t have time to chat, I’m on my way to-”

“Look at this, Gabe, you should find this interesting.” Jonathan shoved the paper towards Gabriel, who skimmed it, then raised an eyebrow at Jonathan.

“Why, exactly, should I find this at all interesting?” he asked, annoyed.

“Why _wouldn’t_ you?” Adele asked angrily. Gabriel looked at her, startled and clearly surprised to see her there.

“I-”

“Why wouldn’t _anyone_ find this interesting? It’s a beautiful, heartwarming, human thing.”

“Well, yes-”

“It’s _inspiring_. What could possibly be more interesting?”

“I didn’t mean-of course, it’s a very nice thing,” Gabriel said, stammering a bit. “It’s… it’s lovely.”

“Yes it is,” Adele agreed, only slightly mollified.

“Although I do think _inspiring_ is a bit strong, I mean, it’s not exactly a difficult thing to do-”

“Oh, when was the last time you did anything difficult?” Adele snapped. She got up and stormed past Gabriel and out of the room. Claire and Elise followed after her quickly, Elise giving Gabriel a sympathetic look and a pat on the shoulder before continuing on. Gabriel and Jonathan stood silently in their wake for a moment.

“That… that did not go the way I thought it would,” Jonathan said apologetically.

“That’s very comforting,” Gabriel said dryly. He adjusted his glasses. “Well, if you’re quite done sabotaging my interpersonal relationships, I think I’ll head to that meeting I was on my way to.”

 

* * *

 

A few days later, Adele was looking at herself in a full-length mirror wearing the most beautiful dress she’d ever seen in her life. It was a long sheath-style evening gown, a blue so deep it was almost black, and the bottom third of it was dotted with tiny rhinestones. Wearing it, Adele felt as though she was wearing the night sky itself.

“This is _stunning_ , Gabriel,” she said, slightly breathless.

“Stop moving,” he replied impatiently, his words slightly muffled due to several pins he was holding in his mouth. He grabbed two of them and pinched the dress in at the waist.

“It’s perfect.”

“It is not,” Gabriel said. “It needs to be taken in, and I’ll need to add a few darts. But on the whole, it is much closer to ready than I thought it would be. Still, this would go faster if you would _stop moving_.”

Adele did her best to comply, and continued to look at herself in the mirror. It really was an incredible dress. Besides, if she kept focusing on the dress, maybe she wouldn’t have to think about Gabriel’s hands grazing her hip as he pinned in yet another fold of fabric. How his eyes were taking all of her in as he looked for any flaws. How he was kneeling right next to her, his eyes level with her waist. How the faint touch of excitement she was picking up from him psychically was heightening her own-

 _For Heaven’s sake_ , Adele thought, a faint blush creeping up her neck. _Who has a crush on whom here?_

Finally, Gabriel was satisfied with the adjustments he’d made, and he instructed Adele to change back into her street clothes. A few minutes later, she was handing the dress back to him, and he was telling her that it would be ready in a few days, still a good week before the dance.

“I can’t wait,” Adele said, smiling. “Gabriel…”

“Yes?”

“I-I just wanted-about the other day, I just wanted to apologize-”

“Oh, there’s no need for that,” Gabriel said, waving her concern away.

“No, there is,” Adele insisted. “I let my temper get the better of me. _Again_. You must think I’m such a-”

“Miss Dumas,” Gabriel interrupted, “it cannot have escaped your notice that I am…” he trailed off, trying to choose his words carefully. “That I have some difficulty navigating the emotions of others,” he finally said. “I think I have probably unintentionally angered or upset just about every person I have ever known. As a rule, I don’t find out until much later, after the damage done is irreparable. So I don’t think I can express to you what a… what a _relief_ it is, to have someone in my life who will always immediately tell me when and how I have angered her.”

Adele was stunned. “Oh,” she said, after a pause. “Well… in that case, I guess I’ll just keep blowing up at you whenever the urge hits me, then.”

Gabriel smiled, a rare sight. “I would greatly appreciate that, thank you.”


	12. Combat Instincts

“Of all the nights-” Butterfly ducked a punch; as the criminal lost his balance, staggering off, Paon teleported right in front of him and knocked him out, “for a pack of two dozen art thieves to invade the Louvre, of _course_ ,” and here Butterfly dropped down in a low crouch, swept her leg and knocked down two more criminals, “it would have to be tonight.”

“What’s wrong with tonight?” Paon asked, as he used his fan to catch a knife thrown in Butterfly’s direction. “Do you have a date?”

“Something like that. I was halfway through putting my hair up when my pager went off, actually.” Butterfly swung her cane, knocking back another of the thieves right before his fist connected with the back of Paon’s head. “I will be _very_ interested to learn if all my bobby pins are exactly where I left them when I drop this transformation.”

The last of the thieves finally decided to make a run for it, and three seconds later ran straight into Paon’s fist.  Paon let out a deep sigh of relief, looking around. “The police should be here any minute; I think I can handle things until then, if you need to leave.”

Butterfly grinned. “Really? Thanks, that’s sweet.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running off, waving goodbye.

 

* * *

 

“You’re _still_ not ready?” Jonathan asked, stunned, after using his spare key to enter his sister’s apartment and finding her standing in front of her mirror frowning.

“No, I’m not, and if you want to know why, you can read all about it in the paper tomorrow.” Adele bit her lip. “Shoot. Where am I supposed to pin this?” she asked, holding up her camouflaged Miraculous. “I can’t put a brooch on this dress, it would be a crime.”

Jonathan considered her ensemble for a second. “I’ve got an idea. Hand it over.” Adele handed him her Miraculous, and he stepped behind her, pulled the back zipper down a few inches, and pinned it to the inside of her dress. “There,” he said, zipping the dress back up, “stealth Miraculous.”

“Is that all right, Nooroo?” Adele asked. She turned around to look at the back of the dress in the mirror, satisfied that the pin was more or less invisible.

“I wouldn’t make a habit of it,” Nooroo said, “but it should be fine for tonight.”

“Great.” Adele grabbed her purse. “Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

“Jonathan! Adele!” Elise exclaimed, waving Jonathan and Adele over as they entered the ballroom.

“You’re still getting invited to this thing?” Claire asked Jonathan as they approached. “When you haven’t worked here for, what, three years? When’s that going to change?”

“When Marie stops humoring him,” Anna said dryly.

“In other words, never,” Jonathan said, grinning. “Okay, let me guess who designed what.” He studied Elise, Claire and Anna for a minute, then pointed at them one at a time as he guessed. “Louisa, Charlie, Renee?”

“Good eye,” Anna said, impressed.

“Adele,” Elise said, “your dress is _amazing_.”

“Oh, thanks,” Adele said, blushing slightly. “All the credit goes to Gabriel, obviously.”

“Yeah,” Anna agreed, “he really outdid himself this year.”

“You should tell him that yourself; where is he?” Adele asked. Anna shrugged.

“I don’t think he’s shown up yet. It’s weird, I don’t think he’s ever been late to this event before.”

“He’s been late to a lot of things over the past few months,” Elise pointed out. “Rumor has it he’s shopping around, entertaining offers from major competitors.”

Claire frowned. “Could that really be why?” she asked.

“No,” Jonathan said immediately and with such certainty that the four women looked at him in surprise. “I mean… look, Gabe’s a lot of things, but trust me, underhanded is not one of them. Besides, it's a little late in the evening for clandestine business meetings.”

“True.” Anna glanced over at the dance floor, which was slowly starting to fill up. “So Adele, are you as good a dancer as Jonathan?” Jonathan burst out laughing at this question, and Adele punched his arm. “Sorry,” Anna said, “is that a sensitive subject? I just remembered that he said he’d had lessons when he was younger, so I thought you might’ve-”

“Oh, Adele’s had lessons, too,” Jonathan said. “And she can do all the moves perfectly, she just can’t follow to save her life.”

“It’s not _that_ bad,” Adele said defensively.

“Adele, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get more than sixty seconds into a dance before you’re five steps ahead of whatever poor soul you’ve been partnered up with. Here,” he said to the others, “watch.” Jonathan grabbed Adele’s hand, pulled her into a dancing position, and started leading a waltz. Adele rolled her eyes, but went along with it. For about thirty seconds, they looked incredible-and then Adele tried to perform an underarm twirl before Jonathan’s left arm had completely lifted. Instead of dancing gracefully beneath it, she collided right into it, knocking them both to the ground. Lying with his back on the floor, Jonathan looked over at Adele and grinned. Sighing, she started to pick herself back up.

“Allow me.” A hand appeared before Adele, and she gratefully accepted the assistance. She was pulled to her feet, and Adele found herself looking up into the eyes of Gabriel Agreste.

“Gabriel! You made it-um, sorry about your dress winding up on the floor like that.”

“Not at all,” he said. “I was watching, and it looked spectacular on the way down.”

“It really did,” Elise agreed. “The bottom kind of flared out and got all sparkly-” she noticed Adele’s blush and stopped talking.

“Anyway,” Jonathan said, “I think I’ve made my point.” Adele glared at him.

“I hope you haven’t been representing yourself as a star pupil of that dance class or anything,” she said. “The way I remember it, in the end you got just as kicked out of it as I did.”

Anna, Elise and Claire’s eyes all widened in delight. “You did _not_ ,” Elise said.

“Oh, they were so stuffy,” Jonathan said cheerfully. “‘Miss Dumas, a lady does not use such colorful language-’”

“‘Mr. Dumas,” Adele added, “‘kindly stay with your assigned partner and refrain from leading the other gentlemen in underarm twirls-’”

“Mr. and Miss Dumas, one does not switch out the tape deck in order to reenact the final scene from Dirty Dancing.’” All three models started laughing, and even Gabriel seemed amused.

“God, Dad was so proud when we were finally ‘invited not to return’.” Adele and Jonathan grinned at each other, briefly lost in the memory of it.

 

* * *

 

Adele and Gabriel spent another hour or so mingling separately before running into each other again.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Gabriel asked Adele, who nodded emphatically.

“Very much,” she said. “I haven’t been to an event like this in a very long time, I’d forgotten how much fun they could be.” She sighed. “I’m going to miss everyone.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Are you leaving?” he asked.

“Yes-not that it hasn’t been a wonderful experience,” she said hurriedly, “but modeling just isn’t what I want to do with my life.”

“That is a great loss for the industry,” Gabriel said solemnly, “but, having gotten to know you somewhat over the past six months, hardly surprising.”

“I _will_ miss everyone, though,” Adele repeated. “Including you,” she added, somewhat shyly.

“Well…” Gabriel paused. “As it happens, you would have missed me either way. I will also be leaving.”

Adele’s jaw dropped. “ _You’re_ leaving?”

“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention it to anyone else, it hasn’t yet been publicly announced. And of course, I’ll be staying on for at least a few more months, to ease the transition.”

“But… but _why_?”

“Well, after you asked me last week-how did you put it?-when the last time was that I’d done anything difficult-”

“Oh, _God_ ,” Adele interrupted, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment, “I don’t even know why I said that.”

“Well, in that case it was far more astute than you realize. It got me thinking, and I realized that I have not been challenged in my career in quite some time. I believe I have learned everything I can from this position. So I’ve decided to start my own company.”

“Goodness.” Adele was silent for a minute. “Well, congratulations. I’m sure it will be incredible; I can’t wait to see what you make of it.”

“Thank you.” They stood next to each other in silence for a little while, watching the dance floor. Finally, the song ended and another one began. Gabriel turned to Adele and offered her his hand. “Shall we?” he asked. Adele stared at it hesitantly.

“I don’t know how much of my last attempt to dance you saw, but-”

“Oh, nonsense,” Gabriel said. “Your brother was off the beat. Besides, I made that dress, I really do think it would be unforgivable if I didn’t get to dance with it at least once.” Smiling, Adele acquiesced and placed her hand in Gabriel’s. He led her to an open spot on the dance floor, then placed his right arm under hers, his hand firmly on her back. Adele rested her left hand gently on his arm, and they began to move together.

It is a common misconception that partnered dances must be choreographed and rehearsed in advance. A true dance is completely improvised. The dancers connect with each other and the music, and their moves come naturally from those connections. The leader tells their follower what to do, where to be, with every subtle movement they make, and the follower responds. A dance is a conversation between two people as they move as one.

Gabriel and Adele began slowly, moving through the basic steps of the dance. Then the music picked up, and as they found their rhythm they became more ambitious.

A turn here, a sudden step backwards there, a slight twist of the torso and suddenly Adele was moving around Gabriel, her feet crossing in front and in back of one another, alternating perfectly. Back to the basic step, then a sudden pull back and Adele was stepping gracefully over Gabriel’s extended leg, kicking her foot up under it as she crossed.

Adele was aware, on some level, that basically everyone else had stopped dancing and was just watching the two of them as they orbited the dance floor, but it seemed irrelevant.

Cross, step, step. A sudden drop, and Gabriel was slowly rotating Adele, her leg fully extended, her foot tracing a wide circle on the floor.

The music picked up again. Faster now as the song approached its dramatic finish, another turn, another cross, step, step, step, and as the final note rang out Gabriel lunged forward and dipped Adele back, one of her legs wrapping instinctively around his as he did so.

They stayed in that position, frozen, looking straight into eachother’s eyes and breathing heavily, for what felt like an eternity. Then some scattered applause broke out, and the spell was broken. Gabriel stood, lifting Adele back up as he did so, and the other guests returned to the dance floor as another song started up.

“That was…” Gabriel seemed at a loss for words.

“It was,” Adele agreed.

“Well.” Gabriel took Adele’s hand suddenly. “It was an honor to dance with you.” He kissed the back of her hand, and before Adele knew what was happening he’d left. She stood there in his wake for a moment, then shook her head and walked off.

“That was… something,” her brother said as she approached the table he’d been sitting at.

“Tell me about it,” she said, sitting down. “It was… Jonathan, I’ve never felt that way dancing before. I’ve never felt that way at all before, except for-” she glanced around, but nobody was close enough to hear them over the music and ambient conversation, “except for when I’m, well, Butterfly. It was like all those combat instincts I get when I’m transformed-I just _knew_ where to be and what to be doing, without thinking about it at all.”

“Imagine that.”

Adele put an elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. “What am I going to do?” she asked her brother.

“About…?”

“About _Gabriel_. And Paon. And, I don’t know, all of it.” She took a deep breath. “Ever since you told me about Gabriel’s feelings, I can’t stop thinking about it-and I agree, he has them, but every time I try to get closer to him it’s like he pulls away suddenly. Meanwhile, Paon and I are _definitely_ getting closer-but I don’t really know anything _about_ him. And nothing we do together is _normal_ ; is fighting crime really a healthy basis for a relationship?” She glanced over at her brother. “You know him in real life-if we weren’t Butterfly and Paon, if we’d just met randomly, would we be a good fit?”

“Definitely,” Jonathan replied, and Adele blinked in surprise.

“Really?” she asked. “Huh. I thought you were rooting for Gabriel.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “You’re an adult,” he said, “you can make up your own mind.”

“But what do _you_ think I should do?”

Jonathan was silent for a minute. “Honestly?” he asked. “I think you’re never going to be able to have a real relationship with either of them, or anyone else, until you know Paon-the _real_ Paon, in real life. So you should probably just hold off on doing anything until then.”

Adele sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Yeah,” she agreed. “You’re probably right.”


	13. A Statistical Inevitability

It was the last week of January, and Adele was home studying for a make-up Psych test while waiting for her brother. She’d missed the test due to a rather unexpected infestation of hellhounds in the local cemeteries a few days ago, and was waiting for Jonathan to show up because Adele had decided that she was well overdue for him to explain to her exactly how much of religious lore was actual fact.

When Adele finally heard a knock at her door, her brother was almost an hour late and hadn’t answered calls to either his apartment landline or his cell phone.

“ _Finally_ ,” she muttered to herself, slamming her books shut. “Like I have time to be waiting around forever, I’ve got a patrol in-” Adele pulled up short suddenly, picking up on the emotional signatures on the other side of her door. “That’s not Jonathan,” she muttered to Nooroo, who responded by hiding in the pocket of her shirt. Adele opened the door.

“Are you Adele Dumas?” one of the two police officers standing in front of her asked. Adele recognized both of them, from various escapades as Butterfly, but after wracking her brain for a second she determined that Adele Dumas had no reason to know either.

“Yes?” she asked. “Can I help you?”

The first officer took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s your brother,” he said.

 

* * *

 

Officer Martinez had asked the young woman the same question twice now, but she was still staring blankly at a random spot on her table. His partner was in her small kitchen, making tea. They’d seen this kind of thing before, and they found that sometimes a small, comforting gesture was all it took to snap someone out of shock and start actually being of use to an investigation.

“Miss Dumas?” he said gently. She looked up. “Did your brother,” he repeated, “have any enemies?”

“No,” she said flatly. “Everyone loved him.”

“No recent falling-outs? Spurned exes, anything like that?”

“No, nothing like that.” She frowned. “I don’t know anything about… you know, police work or anything like that,” she said slowly, “but the abduction you described-five men breaking in, knocking him and his friends out-it doesn’t sound like the work of a jealous lover.”

Evidently, Martinez thought to himself, the victim’s sister was thinking more clearly than he realized. “It doesn’t,” he agreed. “In all honesty, we’re almost certainly looking at a ransom situation-but since we haven’t received any demands yet, we need to consider all possibilities.”

Adele nodded. “Of course.” She bit her lip and tapped her fingers on the table nervously, staring at the same spot as before.

_“I should probably have as little to do with superheroes as possible in the public eye, if I want to minimize getting kidnapped by villains who figure out our connection in the future.”_

_“Minimize?”_

_“Oh, it's definitely going to happen at least once. Here’s a rough probabilistic model I came up with.”_

Jonathan had stood right there, over half a year ago. He’d dropped a stack of books from the library and a pile of notes and equations, right on the spot she was looking at now. Radiating pride, he’d flat-out told her that his future abduction was a statistical inevitability.

And Adele had rolled her eyes and promptly forgotten all about it.

Officer Duval handed her a cup of tea, snapping her back into the present. “Thanks,” she said softly, and he smiled gently at her.

“You haven’t been contacted, have you?” Martinez asked. Adele shook her head. “I don’t think I need to tell you,” he continued, “that if you _had_ been contacted, and told not to cooperate with the police, that it would be in your brother’s best interest if you disregarded that instruction?”

Adele wrapped her fingers around the cup, drawing a small degree of strength and comfort from its warmth. “I haven’t been contacted,” she confirmed. “I’d no idea that anything had happened before you showed up.”

Martinez nodded. “We’ll station an officer here, just in case they call,” he said, “but in the meantime, we’d like to take you to the scene of-that is, to your brother’s apartment. We think we’ve found everything that might be helpful, but you’ll be better able to tell if anything is missing, or altered, or new, that kind of thing.”

Adele nodded. “Of course,” she said, figuring that she should probably check out Jonathan’s apartment anyway, before ditching the police to handle this herself.

 

* * *

 

The door had clearly been kicked in, and a lot of what little furniture there was had been overturned. Adele walked through the apartment, through the police tape and the officers looking around. She stopped by the couch.

“There was a lamp here,” she said. “On the table.”

Martinez nodded, pleased. “Good, that's exactly the kind of thing we’d like you to tell us. We did know about the lamp, though. One of your brother’s friends was knocked out with it over there.” Martinez pointed, and Adele saw the broken pieces of it on the floor. “She’s at the hospital now, being checked out for a concussion. Both of the actresses who were attacked told us all they could before being taken away, but we doubt they’re as familiar with this place as you are, and they had both sustained head injuries, so-do you see something else?” Adele had walked a little ways off, and her eye had suddenly been caught by the pile of unopened junk mail on her brother’s kitchen countertop.

“No,” she said. “Just… thinking, I guess.” She looked around, then fixed her eyes on a spot behind Martinez. “There was a picture on that wall,” she said. Martinez turned around, and Adele quickly slipped the top letter of the pile into her purse before anyone noticed. “Sorry,” she said, “I've just realized it’s on the other wall. My mistake.”

 

* * *

 

It took Adele another hour before she managed to get away. She had to tell the police the exact location of the class she’d made up, and promise to return as soon as possible to her apartment, to wait for the ransom demand she knew wouldn't be coming. But finally, finally she was alone, she'd ducked into the neighboring alley, and she was looking at the small envelope she’d grabbed.

There was no writing on it. Just a rough sketch of a butterfly.

Adele opened it, her fingers shaking slightly.

Inside, she found only a small slip of paper. Again, no words-just a phone number.

“Well, I,” she swallowed hard and looked at Nooroo, “I guess it's time to transform and call Paon.”

A small part of Adele didn't want to transform, because-and she would never admit to it out loud, because a much larger part of her was annoyed and embarrassed by the thought-because it would mean temporarily losing Nooroo, and right now she didn't want to lose anyone else she loved.

Adele took a deep breath. “Wish me luck,” she whispered. In response, Nooroo flew up and hugged her nose.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” he said gently. “You’ll save him, I know it.”

Adele tried to smile. “Thanks. Nooroo, wings up.”

 

* * *

 

“I have been trying to get in touch with you for almost an _hour_ , where have you-”

“Talking to the police,” Butterfly interrupted angrily, “and judging from your tone, I think you can guess why.”

A pause. “Where are you?”

“On the roof of Jonathan’s apartment building; I’ve just been inside and-” she stopped talking as Paon appeared in front of her. “I found-” Before she could finish the sentence, Paon had closed the distance between them and thrown his arms around her. Surprised, she hugged him back.

“I apologize,” he said softly. “I was worried. First I heard that Jonathan had been kidnapped, then I heard that two of his friends were hospitalized, and I-I don’t know what your relationship is to him, exactly, I thought you might’ve-and then you weren’t answering-”

“Oh, God, I didn’t even think of that,” Butterfly said. “I’m sorry-no, I’m fine, I wasn’t there when it happened.” She pulled away to look up at him. “They left me a note,” she said.

“What?” Butterfly held up the envelope, and Paon’s expression darkened as he took it from her and looked inside. “Have you called yet?” he asked.

“No,” Butterfly said, shaking her head. “I called you first.” Looking at the number, she held up her cane and started to press the buttons. As the call went through and the ringing started, Paon took her other hand, steadying her.

“Hello?” a masculine voice Butterfly didn’t recognize asked.

“Where is he?” she responded, her tone low and threatening. The man on the other end of the line laughed.

“Miss Butterfly, what an honor! I confess, I was worried it would take you much longer to find my little message, but it seems you work fast when your friends are in danger.”

“Answer the question,” Paon said, his voice also as threatening as possible.

“Ah, and Paon. I’m so pleased. Well, it seems to me that now I can give you something you want-your friend-and you can give me something that _I_ want. Namely, superpowers. Shall we meet in fifteen minutes, a neutral location?”

Butterfly hesitated. “Fifteen minutes isn’t very long to-”

“Oh, what kind of a fool do you take me for? I know you can be anywhere in the city in the blink of an eye. Why would I give you an hour to come up with some kind of plan of attack? No, fifteen minutes is exactly how long I need to get sufficiently far enough away from my base, so fifteen minutes is when we’ll meet.”

Butterfly clenched her jaw. “Fine,” she said. “But I need to know now that Jonathan is unharmed.”

The man laughed. “Oh, he’s certainly not _unharmed_ ,” he said, as though the very idea were ridiculous. Butterfly shook slightly with rage.

“Alive, then,” she said.

“Very well.” There was a pause.

“Butterfly?”

“Jonathan!” Butterfly cried, relieved. “Hang on, we’re going to-”

“For the love of God, you two,” Jonathan interrupted, sounding weak but determined, “don’t do anything _stupid_ , this guy isn’t-” There was a dull, sickening thud, then another pause.

“Satisfied?” Jonathan’s kidnapper asked.

Butterfly closed her eyes, trying to stay focused. “Name the place,” she said.

 

* * *

 

Fifteen minutes, of course, was not nearly enough time for a criminal in Paris to get sufficiently far enough away from a base that Butterfly could not use her powers of empathy to locate it. Fifteen minutes, as a radius, was a cinch for her. It was lucky, she realized, that her empathic abilities were so downplayed by the newspapers, in favor of her more flashy ability to make Champions.

Invisibly, Paon and Butterfly transported to the meeting site the minute the call had ended. Butterfly closed her eyes and concentrated. A minute later, she opened then, pointing in the direction she sensed her brother, and Paon teleported them towards it. A few iterations later, and they’d located the building exactly.

“He’s on the fourth floor,” she whispered to Paon, pointing. “The corner room there. I’m sensing fifteen criminals, scattered throughout the third through fifth floors. Two more on the roof. Nobody outside.”

Paon nodded. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“I-” Butterfly started shaking, and she leaned against the building wall to support herself. “I can’t lose him, Paon, I can’t,” she whispered frantically. Being this close to her brother, close enough to sense all his awful emotions, was not doing her nerves or her temper any favors. “You don’t know, you can’t understand what he means to me.” She stopped just short of telling Paon that Jonathan was the only family she had left.

In response, Paon placed a firm hand on each of her shoulders. Instantly, she started to calm down. Paon’s effect on her was strange like that-his emotions were always more stable than her own, and he quieted the storms inside her.

“This will be easy,” he said confidently. “This is-this is what we’ve been doing since the beginning. It’ll be just like our first mission together. We are _very_ good at hostage situations, Butterfly.”

Butterfly nodded. “Yes,” she agreed, “we are.”

“This won’t be any different,” Paon assured her.

Butterfly took a deep breath. “All right,” she said, holding her hand out. “I’m ready.”

Nodding, Paon took her hand and teleported them both inside the building. Butterfly fully expected to hit the ground running, to immediately start fighting the handful of henchmen she’d sensed in the room with Jonathan, holding them off while Paon transported Jonathan to safety.

Instead, everything went black.


	14. The Akuma

Gabriel woke up first. Groggy, blinking as he tried to adjust his eyes to the low light of the room, it took him a moment to realize he couldn't move, and another few moments to realize he couldn't teleport, either.

“What…”

“Oh, good,” a sarcastic voice to his left said, “you're finally awake.”

Gabriel turned his head. “Jonathan?”

“You know,” Jonathan said, “I'm pretty sure I remember telling you not to do anything stupid. In fact-yeah, I'm positive I did, because I got punched in the face for my trouble, and I'm learning today that when you get punched in the face for something, it tends to stick in your memory.”

Gabriel’s eyes were finally adjusting. “You look terrible,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Gabriel looked around. “Where’s Rajji?”

Jonathan shrugged, or came as close as he could while tied to a chair, hands bound around its back. “She’s being… suppressed, I think. There’s a powerful anti-magic field in this room, which is what knocked you out when you tried teleporting into the most obvious trap imaginable.” Jonathan struggled against his bonds for a moment, then let out a frustrated groan. “I cannot believe it never occurred to me to learn how to get out of handcuffs,” he said. “Well, I’m fixing that particular gap in my knowledge as soon as-”

“Jonathan,” Gabriel interrupted, looking to the left of his friend. His face had gone white. “Jonathan, is that Adele?”

“Mm hmm.”

“What is she _doing_ here, Jonathan?”

Jonathan sighed. “Figure it out, genius,” he said wearily.

“Good Lord,” Gabriel said, after a pause. “How?”

“If you take a minute to actually think about it, you’ll probably realize it makes a lot of sense.”

“What? How? _You_ , that I get, you’re constantly around both of us in our superhero forms. Anybody could have seen that. But I’ve only interacted with Adele _once_ as Paon, and I treated her like any other civilian. How could anyone have possibly figured out my connection to her?”

Jonathan was momentarily speechless. “Jesus fucking Christ,” he muttered.

“Well, at least this proves my point. Over and over, I said that a relationship with your sister would put her in danger, that it wasn’t fair to her and it wasn’t worth the risk. And over and over, you _insisted_ that I was being ridiculous.”

“Gabe.”

“‘Oh, don’t even take that into account, Gabe,’ you said.”

“Gabe.”

“‘I promise, there’s no possible way you could put Adele in danger,’ you said.”

“Gabe.”

“I never even-”

“ _Gabriel_ ,” Jonathan interrupted angrily. He took a breath. “I think it’s fair to say,” he continued, “that I have had a much worse day than you. So right now, I am really going to need you to shut. Up.”

“I’m just saying, I was right.”

“You are so lucky I am handcuffed to this chair, I have never wanted to punch someone more in my life.” Gabriel rolled his eyes, but stopped talking. For a few minutes, there was silence.

“Wait,” Gabriel said. He groaned in frustration.

“Dare I ask?”

“She’s going to figure out that I’m Paon. It’ll be impossible to keep her from getting involved after that, even if we do make it out of this.”

“What?”

“When she wakes up,” Gabriel said, explaining it slowly, “and sees me here, she’s going to figure out that I’m Paon.”

“You know what, Gabe,” Jonathan replied, “I will bet you literally any sum of money in the world that she does not.”

“I don’t know why you keep on acting like your sister is some kind of idiot, I know _you_ didn’t figure out who I was but at a certain point-” Gabriel stopped talking abruptly as Adele groaned and lifted her head.

“Ugh, what happened?”

“Hi, Adele,” Jonathan said.

“Hi, Jonathan.”

“Hello, Adele,” Gabriel added. Adele blinked, then slowly turned her head.

“ _Gabriel_?” she finally said. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Well, I… I imagine you can guess.”

Adele thought for a moment. “No, I don't think I can,” she finally said.

“That’s it,” Jonathan said calmly. “I’m going to die.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Jonathan,” Adele said, annoyed.

“No, I definitely am. I've been kidnapped by a megalomaniac, and I'm completely helpless to do anything about it, and all I've got to save me are you two, and you two are hands-down the _stupidest_ superheroes to ever live.”

Adele and Gabriel locked eyes, comprehension dawning on both of them at the same time. They stared wordlessly at each other for a moment-

-and then they both began yelling at Jonathan.

“What the _hell_ -”

“-the entire time we were discussing-”

“-been watching me bang my head against a wall for _months_ -”

“-and this whole time you knew all my concerns were completely-”

“Okay, okay!” Jonathan yelled back. He turned his head back and forth to glare at both of them equally. “For the record, I have consistently told both of you exactly how little respect I had for your dumb rule about not knowing each other’s real identities, and you both insisted on sticking to it anyway. It has easily been the single most frustrating experience of my life, so I don’t want to hear another word about it from either of you, got it?”

There was a stunned pause, and then Adele mumbled, “Sorry.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Adele and Gabriel each trying to steal glances at one another when the other wasn't looking.

“Hey,” Jonathan said, and Adele could feel a sudden flash of guilt and concern in his mind, “did either of you hear about how Kate or Marissa are? We were running lines together when-”

“They're at the hospital getting checked out for concussions,” Adele said, “but the police officer I talked to said he thought they’d be fine.”

“Oh, right,” Jonathan said. “Concussions. Probably should have remembered those are a thing before pissing off my kidnapper so much. But in my defense, it is _ridiculously_ easy to get under that guy’s skin.”

Squinting in the dark, Adele finally took a good look at her brother and gasped. “Jesus, Jonathan, you look _awful_.”

“I look rugged. Like an action movie hero right before the third act.”

“You look like you lost a fight with a staircase,” Gabriel said dryly.

“Man, I cannot _wait_ to kick this guy’s ass,” Adele muttered under her breath. “You said it's easy to get under his skin?”

“Yeah, just go the slightest bit off-script.”

“Script? What script?”

“Oh, trust me,” Jonathan said, and Adele could practically hear his eyes rolling, “you’ll be able to tell what the script is.”

They waited for another ten minutes or so before the lights came on suddenly. Adele was briefly blinded, but then her eyes adjusted and she could finally see the room clearly. It was windowless and empty, except for the three of them and the chairs they were tied to. Gabriel looked fine, but Jonathan… Adele did her best to swallow her rage.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man dressed in black walked in, flanked by several armed lackeys. He grinned.

“Miss Butterfly, Monsieur Paon. You missed our appointment. That was rather rude of you, don't you think?”

“Okay, he's still using your superhero names, which means he hasn't figured out who you two really are yet,” Jonathan said before either Adele or Gabriel could respond. “There’s no way he wouldn't be throwing your civilian names in your faces if he had them.”

The leader scowled. “You have done more than enough talking, sidekick,” he said angrily. “Your role as _bait_ has been fulfilled. Please keep in mind that I have no further reason to keep you alive.”

“If you touch him again, I'll-”

“Oh, look at that,” the leader said, grinning again, still looking at Jonathan. “The superheroine comes rushing to defend her pet. How sweet.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “ _Pet_?”

The leader feigned a look of surprise. “You didn't-” he laughed, “you didn't think you were actually an equal member of the _team_ , did you? Butterfly, Paon and Whatsisname, the background guy that nobody’s heard of? Giving rides, offering moral support? You think that you’re in the same league as _them_? You think that if you just hang around long enough, they’ll forget that you’re _nothing_ compared to them?”

Outwardly, Jonathan could not have looked more bored or uninterested by this speech-but Adele could tell, though she desperately wished she couldn’t, that it was not entirely missing its mark.

“You think that if you're helpful enough, patient enough, nice and supportive enough, that eventually,” he glanced at Adele, then looked back at Jonathan, “one day she’ll look at you the way she looks at _him_?”

“...what.”

“Oh, I don't think your true motivations are a secret, do you? You don't have to be coy. It's a rather old cliche, isn't it? Still, it is one of my favorites, although I do prefer it when the love triangle isn't _quite_ so ridiculously stacked in favor of one side over the other-” The leader was cut off, quite abruptly, by Jonathan and Adele’s perfectly-in-unison cries of disgust.

“ _Ugh_!”

“Ew. Ew, ew, ew,” Adele added.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Jonathan asked. He glanced at Adele, then quickly looked away. “I can't even look at you right now,” he said.

“Believe me, the feeling is mutual.”

“So you just did no research _whatsoever_ before kidnapping Jonathan, is that correct?” Gabriel asked, sounding amused.

“If _anybody_ is the vertex of a love triangle here, it's Paon,” Adele said. “Right?”

“Quite right,” Gabriel agreed.

“I mean, if I _had_ to pick one of you, obviously,” Jonathan said begrudgingly.

“Oh please, last time I checked nobody was twisting your arm when you asked me out in ‘89.”

“Which was easily the worst date I went on that year, and quite possibly that entire decade-”

“Enough!” The leader’s face was turning red, and Adele could sense near apoplectic levels of anger from him. Jonathan had been right, it was incredibly easy to throw this guy off. He took a deep breath, then switched his focus to Adele.

“All right,” he said, keeping his voice as calm as he could manage. “Perhaps I have miscalculated the exact nature of this… dynamic, that you three have. But I think I am still quite correct in assuming, Miss Butterfly, that you care deeply for both these men? And would, I think, prefer it if they kept breathing?”

Adele glared at him. “That is accurate,” she said, her tone cool and level.

“Lovely. Then I believe you and I,” he brushed a finger down the side of her face, and her glare deepened, “have a deal to make.”

“Keep your hands off her,” Gabriel snapped.

“Paon, as far as I'm concerned, your abilities are merely cheap tricks that make you only slightly less useless than your friend here. Butterfly is the only one of you with _true_ power. You remain alive for only so long as it keeps Butterfly cooperative, do you understand?”

“Seriously, dude,” Jonathan said, “keep your fingers off her unless you don't mind losing them. She's a biter. See this-well, okay, my hands are tied up but I've still got this scar on my left pinkie from when she was five and-”

“ _Quiet_.” The leader took another deep breath, but this one didn't seem to calm him down. “None of you seem to understand the nature of your predicament. You are all _mine_ to do with as I please.” He leaned over, getting right up in Adele’s face. “You _will_ give me superpowers,” he hissed, grabbing her chin with his thumb and index finger, “because if you don't I’ll-”

Adele headbutted him.

She had a quick moment to enjoy how incredibly satisfying it had been, despite the pain in her forehead, before the man recovered enough to backhand her as hard as possible. Still tied to the chair, Adele went crashing into the wall a few feet to the left, then clattered to the ground.

The pain was excruciating, but the thing that shook Adele, really shook her, was the sheer intensity of the twin flares of rage she sensed from both Gabriel and Jonathan. As they shouted, Adele quickly rethought the initial plan of making the leader angry enough to make a mistake. It seemed pointless if two thirds of them were also going to lose their heads in the process, and on top of that Adele was starting to doubt that “angry enough to make a mistake” would come before “angry enough to kill someone”.

“Wait!” she cried out. _Weaker, sound weaker._ “Wait, I'll… I'll do it, just don't-don't hurt anyone else anymore, okay?”

The satisfaction the kidnapper got from her little performance was sickening. Worryingly, it also was not doing Gabriel’s rage any favors, though Jonathan at least seemed to suspect she was up to something.

“ _Finally_.” The kidnapper snapped his fingers, and two lackeys came forward to uncuff and untie Adele. They pulled her roughly to her feet, and she winced as they grabbed her now heavily bruised arms.

“I can't… my powers, in here, they're not-”

“Of course not,” the kidnapper interrupted smugly. “No magic works in this room. You’ll be escorted to another room, and only after all my men have their guns fixes on you will your powers be returned. Well, one will remain in this room, of course, and if you try anything, one of them will be killed. And if you try something after _that_ , I suppose I’ll have to kill the other one and you, so I’d prefer it if you didn’t try something more than once.” He glanced over at Jonathan and Gabriel. “I don't suppose you have a preference for which one is killed first?”

“It’s moot,” Adele replied, numb. “I won't try anything.”

“Sidekick it is, then.” Adele only had enough time to quickly shoot Jonathan an apologetic look before being dragged out.

As Adele was led down the hallway of the abandoned building, and into another windowless room, this one filled with armed lackeys, an odd sort of calm came over her. She was still worried for both Jonathan and Gabriel, of course, but she’d accepted the way things were about to go down, and there was a comfort in that.

The leader motioned towards Adele, and there were now fourteen guns pointed right at her. Aside from the leader, the only other person in the room not pointing a gun at her was the lackey with the walkie-talkie, ready to give the order to shoot Jonathan if necessary. Once everyone in the room was ready, the leader pulled out a switch from his pocket and pressed it. Adele felt her access to her magic return, and she suppressed the urge to smile as she transformed into Butterfly.

Once Adele had her magic back, of course, the question was no longer if Butterfly could take down fifteen armed criminals.

Of course she could.

The question now was, how far was she willing to go to do it? What lines was she willing to cross?

Facing down a crowded room full of her brother’s kidnappers, looking right into the eyes of the man who was threatening to kill both her brother and her partner, it turned out the answer still wasn’t “all of them”, but it was much, much closer than Adele would have guessed yesterday.

Butterfly closed her eyes, concentrated, and summoned a plain brown moth from somewhere in the building. It flew gently into her waiting palm, and she softly placed her other hand over it. Butterfly looked up. “You never said what superpowers you wanted,” she said calmly.

“Firepower,” the leader replied instantly. “I want to be able to blow anything up I want just by looking at it.” Butterfly nodded and released the creature, now black. Right before it landed on him, Butterfly looked him right in the eye.

“If either of those men die,” she said, “so do you.”

The leader scoffed in response. He practically laughed. He was still high on his victory. Butterfly’s words placed only the smallest seed of fear in his mind.

That was more than enough.

Once the moth landed on him, Butterfly gained full access to all his emotions, and she mentally grabbed that seed of fear and amplified it as much as she could, drowning out all other emotions. His eyes widened. He started shaking. One by one, his men took their eyes off Butterfly to look at him, confused. Before any of them realized what was happening, he’d grabbed the walkie-talkie and handed it to Butterfly, babbling incoherent apologies. Butterfly ripped the back off the device and pulled the batteries out, then broke it in half for good measure.

It was around this point that it started to dawn on the men in the room that they’d lost their leader and were now trapped in a room with a pissed superhero, whom they no longer held any leverage over whatsoever.

 

* * *

 

“So what do you guys want with superpowers anyway?” Jonathan asked the man assigned to kill him. “Bank robberies? Terrorist attacks? Good old fashioned takeover of the world?” The guard ignored him completely, and Jonathan gave up.

“How can you stand it?” Gabriel asked Jonathan a few minutes later.

“What? Stand what?”

“ _Adele_. In _danger_.”

Jonathan shrugged. “What else is new?” he asked.

“It’s new to me,” Gabriel snapped. Jonathan rolled his eyes.

“If you want my advice,” he said, “and you do, you’ll get over it as soon as possible. Believe me, I get it, but Adele is _not_ going to appreciate you suddenly getting all over-protective of her, you know?”

Gabriel sighed. “No, I suppose she wouldn’t,” he admitted.

About ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. The guard opened it, and a purple gloved hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. Butterfly walked in, still holding the guard, and she grabbed the gun out of his hand when he instinctively tried to point it at her, and threw it across the room. She lifted him up a little higher, then threw him to the floor.

“Here’s the problem,” she said, her voice saccharine. “You guys have all seen my partner and me out of uniform. It’s going to be _way_ too easy for you to identify us now.”

“I-we wouldn’t, I swear, we-”

“Shhhh. Now, obviously, the easiest way to deal with it would be to just kill you all. Admittedly, our reputations as superheroes would take something of a hit, but I think it’s the kind of thing we could bounce back from eventually, don’t you?”

“Please, please don’t-”

“ _Quiet_. Luckily for you, I’m in a good mood after beating up all sixteen of your friends. It occurs to me that there’s another option.” Butterfly looked him straight in the eye. “I’m going to give _you_ the power to rewrite memories. And in exchange for your life, you’re going to use that power to wipe the memories of us from every criminal in this building, including your own, got it? In fact, you’re going to wipe all memories of even _planning_ this idiotic venture. As far as any of you will be concerned, you kidnapped Jonathan Dumas with the intention of demanding a ransom, and Butterfly and Paon showed up unexpectedly to save the day. Understood?” The criminal nodded frantically. “I’ll be in your head the entire time,” she added, “so I’ll know if you don’t do exactly what I just said, or if you even think about trying a memory wipe on me or Paon instead.”

“I-of course, Butterfly, I would never think of-I’ll do exactly that, I promise.”

Butterfly grinned, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m so glad we could come to an agreement,” she said.

 

* * *

 

Seventeen memory wipes later, all the criminals were knocked out, tied up, and locked in one of the rooms for good measure. Butterfly had quickly called the police before losing her transformation, and now Adele, Jonathan and Gabriel were making their way to the exit.

“How are you feeling, Jonathan?” Adele asked; Gabriel was supporting him as they made their way down the stairs.

“Dizzy? Yeah. Yeah, moving is a lot less fun than I was imagining it would be, after all that time tied up.” He sighed as they walked outside. “Not that I don’t love you both, but if the police are coming you guys should probably get out of here.”

Adele frowned. “I guess you’re right, but-” she threw her arms around him suddenly. “God, Jonathan, I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you,” she murmured. He smiled weakly.

“Hey, it all worked out,” he said. “I’m totally fine. On a completely unrelated note, maybe don’t hug me quite so hard.”

“Sorry.” She released him. “I’ll-I’ll be by later tonight, okay?” He nodded, and Gabriel and Adele walked off, Adele looking back every five steps before they rounded a corner.

They walked in silence for another block before Gabriel cleared his throat. “Can I… may I walk you home?” he asked. Adele looked around at the empty building surrounding them.

“That would be nice,” she said, “but we’re not exactly within walking distance of where I live.”

“Ah. In that case… may I teleport us within walking distance and then walk you home?” Adele smiled in response.

Most of the rest of their walk was in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. It wasn’t until they were a block away from Adele’s apartment that they both spoke.

“Adele, could we-”

“Gabriel, would it-”

They both stopped. “You first,” Gabriel said.

“Thanks. I-Gabriel, would you mind patrolling alone tonight?”

“Oh.” This clearly was not what he’d been hoping to hear, but he recovered quickly. “Of course.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Adele continued in a rush, “and I really want to-but it’s been a long day, and I-I don’t know, I’ve just been feeling off ever since turning that criminal into a Champion.”

Gabriel frowned. “You should talk to the Guardian about that. You’ve never given a criminal superpowers before.”

“That’s a good idea.” Adele sighed as they reached her door.

“Until tomorrow, then?” Gabriel asked. Adele nodded, and as he turned to go she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m really, _really_ glad it’s you,” she whispered into his ear. Before he could respond, she’d released him and gone inside.


	15. Recovery

“Why was it black?”

When Adele had arrived at the Guardian’s studio, he’d taken one look at her and immediately ushered her inside. He’d then sat her down in the middle of the room, disappeared for a minute, and come back with a smouldering, tightly wound bundle of herbs. She’d had to sit quietly and hold it for about half an hour as the smoke gently enveloped her. Usually Adele didn’t do too well with meditation-type activities, but she had to admit she was feeling a little better by the end of this one.

Now they were sitting across from each other, drinking a tea that Adele was finally starting to get used to, and the questions she’d managed to forget for an hour were back.

The Guardian frowned. “The black ones are called akumas,” he said slowly. “They are the result of empowering negative emotions instead of positive ones. They will damage your energy, so it is important that you come immediately to me if you ever create another one. The wounds they create on the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous can, for lack of a better analogy, fester.”

“Oh.” Adele looked down, not wanting to meet the Guardian’s eyes. “So it _is_ something bad. Something I’m not supposed to do.” She sighed deeply. “I haven’t even been doing this a year, and I’m already abusing my power.”

The Guardian shook his head. “Every Butterfly that has come before you has created at least one akuma, if she served longer than a few months. Adele, there is no power you have that must _never_ be used, do you understand? For anything that can be done, there is at least an imaginable scenario in which it should be done.You were trusted with your Miraculous in part because you have the potential for great wisdom, wisdom which will guide you, so you know when and how to use such power. Tell me how you used it when you created the akuma.”

Adele told him. It took her a while. When she’d finished, he nodded.

“I see. That was clever thinking, finding a way to protect your identities without shedding blood.”

“It was clever,” Adele agreed. “Was it wise?”

Master Fu sipped his tea thoughtfully. “Time will tell,” he finally said.

 

* * *

 

Most people wouldn’t have guessed it, but Gabriel Agreste was a heavy sleeper.

Slowly, very slowly, he became aware that someone was knocking at his apartment door. It was another minute or so before he was awake enough to realize he should probably get up and do something about it. Dragging himself out of bed, glancing quickly at the clock next to his bed, he made his way to the door and opened it.

“Jonathan?” Jonathan was standing there, with a small duffel bag and an expression that might have been sheepish if it wasn't so exhausted. The bruises on his face had cleared up noticeably since last week, but not entirely, and he still had a cast on his nose.

“Sorry, I know it’s late. Can I crash on your couch tonight? I’ve gotten, like, maybe ten hours of sleep total over the last three days.” Gabriel blinked a few times, trying to clear his sleep-addled vision.

“It’s three in the morning,” Gabriel finally said. “What’s wrong with your apartment?”

“Oh,” Jonathan’s voice took on a slightly breezy tone, but he was clearly too tired to put the usual amount of effort into his sarcasm, “who knows. Maybe the feng shui in my apartment is off. Maybe it’s the fresh memory of being violently abducted from the premises. Maybe the upstairs neighbors are too loud. It’s anybody’s guess, really.”

“Ah.” Gabriel stood aside, and Jonathan made a beeline for the couch.

“Thanks, man. I'll probably pass out the second I'm horizontal, so you should probably go back to sleep.” Jonathan dropped his bag on the floor and fell onto the couch in one fluid motion. Gabriel watched him silently for a minute, and Jonathan finally opened his eyes and looked over. “Yes?”

“Do you…” Gabriel looked like he was struggling to say something in a foreign language, “do you want to… _talk_ about anything?” Jonathan sat up, his eyes wide.

“Oh my God, Gabe, if you could see the look on your face right now. Would that be the most terrifying thing in the world to you, if I needed to talk about something?”

Gabriel scowled slightly. “It's not exactly within the boundaries of my comfort zone,” he admitted.

“Yeah, no kidding. Gabe, I love you to death, but you are the last person I'd come to if I wanted to _talk_ about my problems.”

“And that is very correct if you,” Gabriel said, not the least bit offended, “but it occurs to me that I might actually be the only person in the world you _can_ talk to, so I thought I'd offer. There are only two other people who know what really happened a week ago, after all. One is me, and the other is-” Gabriel hesitated for half a second, still getting used to the idea, “-your sister. And instead of going to her apartment, you came here. So I thought you might be reluctant to overburden her as of late, since she’s been…” Gabriel trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. Jonathan frowned.

“Is she still skipping patrols?” he asked.

“Not anymore, but she’s been… withdrawn. It is not behavior that I'm at all used to from Adele. Or Butterfly, for that matter.”

“Oh. Yeah, she gets like that sometimes. She's feeling guilty about bullying that guy into accepting powers based on fear. I guess she kind of scared herself, you know?”

Gabriel sat down next to Jonathan and considered the question. “I really don't think I do,” he finally said. “I thought she handled the situation incredibly well. I don't think I would feel a single bit guilty about doing what she did.”

“Neither would I,” Jonathan agreed, “but Adele is a better person than you or me.”

“That's true.”

Jonathan sighed. “Okay. Maybe there are a few things on my mind. And I'd prefer not to say them to Adele, but if I see her she'll be able to tell something’s up and she’ll have it out of me in five minutes-you have no idea how annoying her powers can be sometimes. So, yeah, I came here.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I… thought I'd be handling this better. I saw it coming a mile away, you know? The sidekick getting kidnapped to get to the heroes, it's a cliche, right?”

“You're not-”

“And everybody’s so _impressed_ now, Kate and Marissa keep talking up how I went down fighting, everyone's so _supportive_ and _concerned_ and it means _nothing_ to me, I can't-it's like I can't even connect to it, like I'm supposed to but I'm on one side of a glass wall, by myself, and nothing anybody does on the other side of it touches me at all, I'm just stuck with how _I_ feel and there’s nothing else.”

“And… how do you feel, exactly?” Gabriel asked, unsure if this was the right question. “Scared?”

“No-well, I keep having mini panic attacks every time I try to relax or let my guard down in my apartment. But whatever, I'll just move. No, mostly I'm just angry. Like, really, really angry. So angry it kind of scares me, actually.”

“That’s understandable,” Gabriel said. “I was angry at your kidnappers, too, when they-”

“I'm not mad at them,” Jonathan interrupted. “I'm mad at your Guardian.”

“The Guardian? I-” Gabriel was momentarily speechless. “Why? You can't think he had something to do with it?”

“Of course not,” Jonathan said, annoyed.

“Then why-” Jonathan cut him off with a sigh.

“Okay,” he said. “I'll walk you through it, but don't interrupt because it's something I've been thinking through for a few months now, ever since I found out you were Paon, so it’ll take a while.” Jonathan paused. “When Adele told me she was Butterfly,” he started, “it made sense. Well, once I got over the initial shock, anyway. She's the best person I know. When she was a kid, you know, she’d get into trouble a lot-nothing serious, but fighting with the other kids, yelling at her teachers, that kind of thing. And invariably, every time my parents looked into it, they'd find out that she’d been coming to the defense of someone else. She had to sit through a lot of bullshit lectures too, about respecting authority, the right and wrong way to do the right thing, and so on. So, yeah, some mysterious guy in Paris decides to start handing out superpowers, obviously Adele would be at the top of that list.” Jonathan took another deep breath. “And then _you_ , of all people, got the second one.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “You don't think I'm the second-best person in Paris?”

“Frankly, no. And even if I thought you were close, the sheer coincidence of _you_ getting it would still give me pause.”

“What coincidence?”

Jonathan looked at him like he was an idiot. “What coincidence? You already knew her! You were already falling in love with her! That doesn't just happen _randomly_ , Gabe.”

“Ah,” Gabriel said, after a pause. “You think I was chosen _because_ I knew her.” He frowned. “I hadn't considered it, but in retrospect it does seem rather obvious. Though I still don't see why-”

“Because he _wanted_ to give superpowers to someone that already knew her. That already loved her. Someone who would protect her, right? And at the same time, he had a problem, that Adele had revealed her identity to a civilian. It-look, I've never met the guy, but from the way Adele talks about it he was _really_ put out about me knowing. Me, a powerless civilian who knows Adele, loves Adele, would do anything to protect Adele. So isn't there kind of an obvious two-birds-one-stone solution there?” Jonathan was starting to get worked up, but the pieces were finally falling into place for Gabriel.

“Oh. Oh, yes, I think I see what you mean.”

“He _must_ have considered giving me a Miraculous, Gabe. If he has even two functioning brain cells to rub together, that solution must have occurred to him. And he rejected it. He rejected me. Not the way he technically rejected everyone in Paris who isn't you or Adele, I mean he actively decided Jonathan Dumas wasn't good enough to be a superhero.”

“That's a bit of a stretch, there could be any number of reasons-”

“Rajji?” Jonathan called for the kwami, and she poked her head out of the breast pocket of Gabriel’s pajamas. “Rajji, were you listening to all of that?” Rajji nodded sadly. “Was any of it wrong?”

“Oh, Jonathan,” she said, her eyes starting to fill up with glittering tears, “it's not-I don't really understand it, it's Wayzz’ business, but it's much more complicated than-”

“In other words, I'm right.” Rajji flew over to Jonathan and pressed her forehead against his in response.

“It's not about being good enough,” she whispered. “You're good.”

Jonathan sighed. “Thanks, Rajji,” he said, and she flew down and settled on his shoulder. There was, Jonathan would have had to admit, something oddly comforting about the gesture, like having a cat climb into one’s lap unexpectedly.

“All right,” Gabriel said, “I can see why you'd be mad at him, after just figuring all that out-”

Jonathan scoffed. “I figured all that out back in November. Probably less than a week after I found out about you.”

“Oh. You've been angry about it this whole time?”

Jonathan shrugged. “A little, I guess. I told myself it didn't bother me, that it didn't matter. I told myself I didn't need superpowers, that the research and the support would be enough. I told myself that being a civilian in the know could be just as much a way of protecting Adele. And then last week happened. And I realized it doesn't matter how much I help, it doesn't matter how much I learn, it doesn't matter how much I'm there for her. At the end of the day, without superpowers, I'm a liability to her.” He clenched a fist. “My sister, my baby sister, who I swore to our dying mother to protect, not only was I completely helpless to do _anything_ to protect her, just by existing I put her in danger. All because your Guardian decided-”

“I was _also_ a liability to her, you know,” Gabriel interrupted. “The Guardian may have given me a Miraculous, but it didn't matter last week. I was just as powerless as you were, and they were threatening to kill both of us to get what they wanted from her.”

“You were powerless,” Jonathan said angrily, “because you were _stupid_. There are at least half a dozen ways you could have handled it better, ways that wouldn't have resulted in you powerless and tied up next to me. There is _nothing_ , on the other hand, that I could have done differently. Nothing I could have done to prevent being kidnapped, nothing I could have done to prevent you two from falling into that trap. So don't pretend it's at all the same for you,” he finished bitterly.

Gabriel was starting to realize he was much more out of his depth than he’d anticipated being when he’d begun this conversation. He’d never seen Jonathan like this, and he had no idea what to say. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Jonathan, we couldn’t do what we do without you,” Gabriel finally said. It felt insufficient, even to him, but Jonathan relaxed a little.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “I’ll be fine. I’ll get over it. I’m probably just starting to lose it from lack of sleep, you know?” He grinned reassuringly, and for a split second he looked exactly like he had back at university. Back when the two of them were still technically teenagers, back before tragedy had struck the Dumas family, back when magic was just an abstract thing that happened to other people. But then Gabriel noticed the bruises again, and the illusion was broken.

Gabriel stood. “I’ll… I’ll just let you sleep, then.”

“Thanks, man.” Gabriel turned the lights out on his way back to his bedroom, and within a few minutes he could hear a gentle snore coming from the couch.

Gabriel, however, didn’t fall back asleep for hours.


	16. Balance

Adele took a little while to come back to herself.

She went to class, she went on her nightly patrols, she dealt with a crisis or two as Butterfly when necessary. But outside of those things she isolated herself. Despite the assurances of the Guardian, the akuma had cast a shadow on some things that Adele had always believed about herself-that she was basically good, that she was basically kind, that there were lines she knew never to cross. It was all kind of a mess in her head now, and Adele needed to be alone with herself for a little while in order to untangle it.

About two weeks after the akuma, Adele woke up one morning to find that the weight in her chest had lifted, colors had pop again, and she suddenly, desperately, missed Gabriel Agreste. But she had classes, and Gabriel had work, so she forced herself to wait until the evening, around the time he usually left for the day, before heading to his office.

Adele ran into Marie first, and was surprised when the woman hugged her. “Adele! It’s good to see you, we miss having you around! I hope we haven’t seen the last of you just because you’re not working here anymore. Are you looking for Jonathan?”

“Huh? No, I was-wait, is he here?”

“Yeah, he just showed up about ten minutes ago to bother Gabriel about… something, I don’t know. They just left, you can probably catch up to them.”

Thanking her, Adele hurried off down the familiar hallways, towards the back entrance. She sensed the two of them ahead of her before she saw or heard them, and quickened her pace.

“...because it’s the kind of thing that ruins friendships, Jonathan,” she heard Gabriel saying patiently, once she got close enough “and for obvious reasons, I can’t afford to ruin our friendship.”

“Can’t _afford_ to-oh, just say you love me, you know you do.”

Gabriel nearly grinned at that-Adele couldn’t see it, but she could feel it. “You’ll never prove it,” he replied, completely deadpan.

“Anyway,” Jonathan continued, “it’s only the kind of thing that ruins friendships if you _fail_ , which you obviously won't. Look, you need investors, I have a ton of money I’d love to bet on a sure thing, it’s probably going to ruin our friendship if you _don’t_ let me in on it, you know?”

“That’s-” Gabriel stopped talking as he heard Adele’s footsteps approaching, and turned around. “Adele?”

Adele stopped, feeling suddenly shy. “Hi, Gabriel,” she said. Jonathan turned around, surprised, then grinned and ran over to her, hugging her tightly.

“Adele! How the hell have you been?” he asked happily. Then, in a whisper, “Are you done avoiding the world or what?”

Adele nodded, hugging her brother back. “Yeah-I’m sorry, Jonathan, I know you must have been having a worse time of it than me, and I’ve been-”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me, you know that.” He glanced back at Gabriel, who was waiting patiently. “I’m guessing you didn’t come here looking for me?” Adele shook her head. “In that case-” Jonathan kissed his sister on the forehead, waved goodbye to his friend, and left. Adele and Gabriel were left alone, and they stood in silence for a moment before Adele worked up the nerve to break it.

“Gabriel… could we talk?” Gabriel nodded slowly.

“Yes,” he said, “I think that would be a good idea.”

“There’s a park nearby-there shouldn’t be too many people there at this hour.” Gabriel nodded again, and they started for the exit.

 

* * *

 

Adele and Gabriel walked through the park in a comfortable silence before finding a small gazebo that offered some degree of privacy. They sat down on the bench inside, not quite close enough to one another as to be touching.

“I want to apologize,” Adele started, to Gabriel’s surprise.

“What on earth for?” he asked.

“Well-I know I’ve been distant lately. The akuma-” she stopped talking as Gabriel stiffened and looked out the entrance, checking for passerbys. “Gabriel, you don’t need to do that.”

“I’m not sure this is the best place for this conversation. The line of sight isn’t ideal for making sure nobody’s close enough to-”

“Gabriel.” Adele smiled gently. “I don’t need a line of sight, remember?” She tapped her temple. “I can sense everybody within, oh, at least five hundred meters. Trust me, nobody is close enough to overhear.”

Gabriel looked at her, surprised. “I didn’t realize you could do that outside of transformation.”

“It’s much weaker, and I can’t focus it the way I can as Butterfly, but yes.”

Gabriel looked away, and Adele caught a faint flash of embarrassment. “So you’ve known all along, then, how I feel about you.”

“Oh. Well, no, actually. Your emotions are…” she trailed off, gesturing vaguely as she tried to think of how to describe them. “Well, they’re much steadier than other people’s emotions. More subtle. It makes being around you a very soothing thing, actually, but it was a long time before I could read you properly.”

Gabriel seemed as though he didn’t quite know how to respond to this. “Ah,” he said.

“Anyway… where was I?”

“You were apologizing for something,” Gabriel replied immediately, “although I cannot imagine what for.”

“Right. Well, the akuma-it got to me. I had a lot of ideas, when I started all this, about how there would be things I’d never do, lines I’d never cross, and it was difficult to accept that being a hero is sometimes more, well, gray than that. And it only just occurred to me that the akuma and, you know, finding out that you were Paon, those happened at the same time, and you might have been left with the impression that I was upset about _you_.”

Gabriel sighed. “The thought had occurred to me,” he admitted.

“Well, I’m not,” Adele said firmly. She leaned forward and took his hand in hers. “In fact, there’s no one I’d rather Paon was than you. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear right away. I wish I could say it won’t happen again but, well, I have a tendency to withdraw when I’m shaken. I’m afraid you’ll just have to get used to it.”

Gabriel nodded, then placed his free hand over Adele’s. “Miss Dumas,” he said slowly, “I find… I find that I am quite eager to get used to everything about you.”

For a moment, Adele forgot to breathe. She looked right into Gabriel’s eyes, and he looked into hers, and it was hard to say exactly who kissed whom because Adele could sense the exact moment Gabriel decided to kiss her, and by the time he actually moved she was already leaning in.

Without breaking the kiss, Gabriel slowly placed his arm around Adele’s waist, putting his hand firmly on the small of her back and pulling her into him. The other hand came up, grazing her cheek before settling behind her head, his fingers caught in her hair.

In response, Adele put her hands on Gabriel’s shoulders, pulling herself up, pulling him down. Then her fingers trailed along his collarbone towards his neck, and she was pulling his tie loose, unbuttoning his pristine shirt, trying her best not to rip any buttons off while working as quickly as possible. Everything she did thrilled him, and she could sense it clear as a bell, and that in turn thrilled her right back. It was a kind of feedback loop that almost overwhelmed her, to the point that she didn't notice the approaching emotional signatures of two strangers until it was almost too late.

Adele broke away just in time. “Oh, hell,” she whispered, “someone’s-” Without another word she grabbed Gabriel’s unbuttoned shirt and pulled him down, so that she was lying back and he was flat on top of her, just barely out of sight below the bottom of the gazebo’s frame. A second later they could hear footsteps, and they both tried to quiet their heavy breathing as the unseen couple walked right past.

When the footsteps had finally died away, Adele dared to move again. “Where were we?” she asked, grinning. She moved to kiss Gabriel, but he pulled back.

“Miss Dumas,” he said, his breathing still heavy, “if this goes a single step further, I really don't think I could stand the torture of another interruption like that. I don't suppose you'd object terribly if I escorted you back to my apartment?”

Adele pouted. “I'm not sure I could stand the torture of putting this on hold until we get all the way back to it,” she replied. Gabriel raised an eyebrow in response.

“I hope you haven't forgotten,” he said wryly, “that you are not the only person in this relationship with superpowers.” It took Adele a second to figure out what he meant, but then she grinned. One quick transformation later, and Paon was taking her in his arms, and the next thing Adele knew she was lying on something far more comfortable than a gazebo bench. She grinned up at her partner and kissed him.

Once again, she reached up to unbutton his shirt, but this time she wasn't able to. “What the…” She frowned, then tried again, still with no luck. “Why won't this come off?”

Paon frowned. “I… suppose the costumes can't be removed, for combat reasons,” he guessed.

“Seriously? I knew the masks were stuck on, but…” Adele trailed off, pouting. “Well, there go all my ideas for our second date,” she muttered.

Paon grinned down at her, then dropped the transformation in a quick flash of light. Adele was pleased to discover that Gabriel was exactly as disheveled and undressed as he'd been right before transforming. She ran her hands over his bare chest as he started kissing her neck, she pulled his shirt off as Gabriel ran a hand up her blouse, as he eagerly began to, as he'd put it earlier, get used to everything about her.

 

* * *

 

Afterward, the two of them lay together on Gabriel’s bed, Adele's head on his chest, sheets and various articles of clothing tangled up all around them.

“That was…” Gabriel started breathlessly.

“It was,” Adele agreed. “I’ve never-well, no, of course I have,” she corrected herself suddenly, feeling a flash of mild panic from Gabriel. “It's just the first time since becoming an empath, that's all.”

“Ah,” Gabriel said, relaxing. “Of course. That explains… well. It hardly seems fair to you, does it? It must have been much better for me.”

Without lifting her head, Adele started lightly tracing spirals on Gabriel’s skin with the tips of her fingers. “I'm not sure it's logically possible for it to have been better for you,” she replied. “After all, I felt everything you felt.”

“Goodness.”

“Indeed.”

“I must confess, it is not something I'd considered.”

“What,” Adele grinned, “back when you were trying to choose between Adele Dumas and your superhero partner Butterfly?”

“Oh, Butterfly never really had a chance against Adele,” Gabriel said lightly. “But if I'd known how good empaths are in bed it might have been a much closer thing.” Adele laughed, then sighed contentedly.

“I should have realized it was you,” she said to him. “You and Paon, you're the only people in the world whose emotions make me feel at peace. Steady. Safe.”

“I should have realized, too,” Gabriel replied. “That fire that I love about you, Butterfly always had it too. I was just too dense to notice.”

They lay in silence for a while, lost in thought, and then Adele started laughing. “What?” Gabriel asked, slightly concerned.

“Oh, I just remembered that I yelled at you a few months ago for not being adequately touched by that news story about Paon,” she said, still chuckling.

“Ah, yes. That was… interesting.”

“How many other moments like that have we had, do you think?”

“Dozens, I'm sure. Remembering them all should be fun.”

Adele nodded. “Everything’s alright now, isn't it?” she asked. “Now that we know, everything can be so much easier. Better.”

“I should think so.” Gabriel leaned forward and kissed the top of Adele’s head. “Everything will certainly be happier, at least.”

The two lovers continued to lie there, falling in and out of silence easily as the night stretched on. They knew the lives ahead of them would still be filled with challenges, both magical and mundane-though of course they had no idea, really-but for the first time, they would be truly united against those challenges, and for now that felt like more than enough. They were balanced, they were whole.


End file.
